To vet guests, you can use a pre-booking form, ask about their plans, and require an ID and signed agreement.

Bought 2 SFRs on the same lot that are zoned commercial (found on Crexi) for less than the price of a normal SFR because of the value add required (like kitchens and full baths, lol), but should BRRRR nicely based on the LTR and STR projections. 

The fix/flip might be a good way to get such a relationship started: usually has lower cash out of pocket requirements and you can sell the property faster to recoup the capital invested, plus any profits.

However, you can't sell something unstable, with circular references, requiring human override, etc.But, if you stabilized it, the model loses efficiency. 

All the leads I've found so far have balked at either the "investment property" requirement, the "in California" requirement (or both!)

They/you can't choose the carrier - their software assigns it.Fortegra is one of the carriers (paper in insurance parlance) that their product is written on.That said, Fortegra is A- rated I believe by AM Best so that isn't the issue.I'm going to take a guess and say that your umbrella is written with PersonalUmbrella.com (Markel) and they require all underlying insurance to be A-rated but also with an admitted carrier. 

So its like im enforcing it as a practice.The 70% rule, from my understanding, comes from the lenders underwriting requirement.

Then add any other codes required where you want to build and study those as well.

Permit eligibility is based on region (usually the west side of town) and density (quantity of surrounding STR's in the area) as well as percentage of landscaping and minimum parking requirements. 

As I see it, the only ways that real estate pays you well in the first 3-5 years is low to no leverage or a strategy that requires more work (short term rental, mid term rental, rent by the room, etc.).