I’m aware California is not the best market, with the restrictions and potential new tax coming up, etc, but we have personal reasons to invest there.With that said, we visited a lot of houses in the San Diego area and saw 2 that seem like a potential fit for us: one is a smaller 3 bedroom but a mile from the beach and the other is a 15-17min drive to the beach, but bigger with 4 bedroom and a little cheaper, which would allow us some cushion to invest on a hot tub or potential pool.

It's cheaper than a full-time manager.

We charge a 0% interest rate in this technique because so you have no taxable income for your company when you do it.  

The answer above from Joe indicates he would be a good place to start.Remember: cheaper doesn't mean you'll make more money.Start by going to www.narpm.org to search their directory of managers.

You can remodel a nice home much cheaper that a duplex, get better tenants, better appreciation and MUCH less work.

I would like to find tax strategies to reduce my taxable income.

My repose to both the tenant and Section 8 was that the $200 increase was still below maket rent and the tenants was free to move somewhere else where rents were cheaper. 

SFHs in my area are many times even more expensive than duplexes, but never significantly cheaper.

We have our own custom CRM for real estate that can meet all of your requirements and is cheaper than most solutions on the market.

Much cheaper than the 20% PM Fee.