“Trust the experts.”Why didn’t the inspector say the house wasn’t up to code, even more so than the deck.

Quote from @Levi Perl: The purpose of background screening is to determine a level of risk, and then you decide if you can mitigate that risk.How does a DUI conviction from three years ago impact the tenant's ability to pay rent or maintain the property?

Ensure compliance with local laws, start with smaller loans to gain experience, monitor your investments regularly, and trust your instincts as you navigate this venture.I myself, as a PML.

Their character, their payment record, how well they take care of you property, etc all these things are for you to discover with your tenants and build trust between each other. 2. when it comes to screening, you must check their credit, their paystubs, their employer and landlord references, their criminal background, I also get a copy of everyone's photo ID.3.

If the score does not seem to be backed up by enough credit history to be reliable, I will make a judgement about the tenant's level of responsibility based on their answers.

Also people like to feel more important by having LLC or trusts to hide their identity.

If they are changing jobs, they need the new job first and you need to paychecks or offer letter with salary or maybe even the first two paychecks at the new job, depending on their level and income.Ask them about deposit and rent. 

I maintain even break even on valuation (which is rare in SF Zoned areas), the ADU has big disadvantages versus new property acquisition including financing, level of effort, rent control, prop tax being based on cost rather than value added, length of time including length of time from first expenditures to first income, reduction of something from existing unit (in your case existing home lost its garage).Did you see starting next year Mf can add an ADU per unit up to 8 units without any affordable housing concessions?

Trust is made up of two things: Competence and Character.

You've earned $132,000 more by splitting your money and leveraging it.Since I've been searching for more deals I have seen one or two that might actually cash flow decently but most seem to be at break even assuming normal expenses, vacancies, etc.I'm just learning my comfort levels with leveraging and trying to take advice from others about managing multiple low cash flow properties vs. one higher value one.