My wife and I have good W2 jobs currently so we get better terms with traditional lending in comparison to DSCR lending. 

If you made those free they'd be complaining about jobs or supermarket deserts or lack of public transportation or some other issue.

If you know how to make rates of return higher than that, I would say it is better to invest the money than pay down your mortgage early.If you don't know how to do that, then either pay down your mortgage or learn how to improve your investment returns.

We have one property managers whose job is to be our eviction Laison across the whole portfolio.

Other risks, the contractor walking off the job, a storm hitting and delaying the project for weeks, someone breaking into the home and stealing stuff (which happened just the other day to a client of mine), a squatter, or drunk driver driving into the house (happened a lot at my old job as a firefighter lol).

We live in California at the moment and I have W2 job and my wife a small online business.

California offers great job markets and weather, but comes with high costs. 

My goal for 2025 is to ask for feedback from clients to improve our onboarding process.

@Nick WimmelYou can get decent cash flow and demand for rentals is likely to stay strong in the area given the proximity to major job centers in Cincinnati and Dayton

I appreciate the insight that you and John offered regarding the lack of value in the business itself and strictly the land + improvements.