Do you want tenant-friendly or a hammer? 

My wife briefly help a friend manage their monthly short term rental in San Francisco while they were traveling and have a few friends that do it.Monthly rentals seem to book pretty well, but not at a significant premium to long term term rentals. 

With fully paid-off properties and significant equity, your options are wide open.I had a friend in Connecticut who ended up investing in Phoenix and he was in a situation much like yours - an inherited property and equity to work with.

I looks like you are in Cali which is a notoriously tenant friendly state.

NV is a landlord friendly state with no state income tax and the 4th lowest property taxes in the US.

My son wants to move to Sacramento, his friends family lives there. 

The idea is spreading, and could spread to some other spots here that have traditionally been STR friendly. 

Best part is NJ is not what its made out to be in terms of landlord friendly, the state gets portrayed as the entire state being bad when really most wacky laws are in the major cities and they apply to 5 units or more.  2-4 unit multi families fly below radar per say. 

A friend of mine in San Antonio had a similar situation.. she inherited a vague commercial lease and learned that the rules differ big-tiime from residential.

The paralegal was good at interfacing with title and trustee companies.