What I’d like to accomplish is an upgrade in home (space, location, etc) without putting myself in a bad financial position.

I upgraded to Unlimited Plus a few months after use when it was still $5/month.

This will allow you to get to know the property, its maintenance items, and slowly tenant proof(upgrade) the units before you move back to CA.

Are they actually as time consuming as people say "4am toilet broken events"?

You do not need to have a license to manage an apartment community.Property management can then be broken down into "annual" property management (normally a unit without furniture), a seasonal rental management (such as 2 weeks to several months up to 6 months) and then vacation rentals (sometimes for the weekend, a week, etc..).Each state has its different rules and licensing for each area of property management (annual, seasonal and vacation) as well as the different areas of management (association, apartment and property).I hope that helps.My understanding is that if you are an EMPLOYEE of the property owner you do not need to have a license; if you provide property management services as your management co owned business or as an independent contractor, then you do need a license.  

If you proceed with upgrading the panel add enough capacity to charge an electric car and put in baseboard heaters so you wont' have to do this again if you decide to add either of those options down the road. 

There are other challenges that come with unqualified tenants in addition to nonpayment of rent including unauthorized guests staying in the property, broken windows, and other issues which I'll dive deeper into in a future post!  

The first thing I do when I purchase a property is fix everything that is broken.

Aside from possibly replacing items that upgrade your property value for 3+ years (appliances, countertops, etc) I would not offer any kind of upgrade.

I’ve had a turn over of 4 units which has allowed for upgrades and renovations.