I ended up finding an agent that can help me out but I won't be committed to if I find something off market.

Any other advice the you can lend would be much appreciated.If they are under a term lease with a specific end date in the future, you must abide by that existing contract until it expires.

Sure Nizar, I've found that my GC has very little sense of urgency, committing to deadlines that he cannot meet, not showing up as scheduled and just plain unreliable.

If you reject the lease assignment then the existing tenant would still be responsible for rent and the existing lease stays in force, so you have gained nothing. 

We were able to permit an already existing bathroom and "bedroom" into a legit bathroom/bedroom that moved the house from a 2/1 to a 3/2.

From what I can tell from the plans thus far, there will be limited "green space" or "communal areas" (the developer committed to "total green space equal to 1/2 of a soccer field") which I suspect will drive foot traffic to the local residential neighborhood. 

When you find an agent you mesh well with commit to them and tell them that. 

Below are some CA markets that allow for non-owner occupied STRs:- Monterey- Palm Springs- Fullerton (near Disney Land)- Sonoma County- Huntington Beach- Santa Barbara- Joshua Tree- Malibu- Big Bear Lake- Newport BeachGranted, you'll have to do research on Rabbu and Airdna to find the best spots for cash flow, but they certainly exist.

Also, if you change to using an LLC, you can transfer deeds into the LLC, but won't be able to transfer existing mortgages.

If you are buying an existing note that may or may not be part of the contract.