I have also heard several presenters say that we are likelier to find bargains in smaller locations rather than cities.

Due to this, I don't create new LLCs for my SFRs.You could also look into Delaware LLCs.

I was presented with multiple deals and walked through pros/cons of each house and specific street/neighborhood.

And, make sure this is good with your tax pro and doesn't present any negative consequences on the tax side (throughout your investing journey).I'm on my 2nd househack now.

In short, in the context of real estate, the majority of your time has to be spent in real estate activities (usually full-time workers in other professions fail at this level of the test because convincing the IRS that you work two full-time jobs presents a problem) and the time spent must exceed 750 hours.  

Forget about the past and figure out the present and future potential.

You'd have to do some analysis to see if this pencils out for your house.Theoretically San Jose limits STRs to 180 owner-not-present days / year. 

Presently inhabited by tenants with plans to eject them if necessary.

I know stupid mistake, I did look into it but never presented it to him as I felt things would continue to move smooth as they were at one point.

These were the options that were presented in the signing documents as well as the option for the amount I'd like to initially draw.