Much appreciate folks,Steve.Steve do you have a real estate attorney that operates in the city to give the proper guidance? 

San Diego is expensive to Purchase, maintenance and cap ex is expensive, property tax at purchase is expensive in terms of dollars (average SFH prop tax at purchase is ~$1k/month in San Diego), new retail (MLS) purchases are negative cash flow when allocating properly for expenses, it is tenant friendly in terms of regulations but this is largely due to the big advantages LL have due to crazy low vacancy rates.  

Thankfully, the rest of the US does not function like CA real estate.

Use the lookup function.  

. • Regular monitoring of approved leases to ensure proper actions are taken at the leasing expiration and renewal dates. • Preparation of quarterly reports for the Board of Directors outlining the current status of the leasing program. • Coordination with the Association attorney as needed for enforcement of the leasing provisions. • Assessment and collection of costs for this program from the leased units by the authority of the Community Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCRs), $150/year.

hello-q: i hope that you have quite the plethora in information about the decide to..build a square space (office like in function) right next to house-to have "reason space" to work from home ('i am forced to work from home bcs of having parent who survives a stroke-cared for on/in house property, bcs putting her instead in assisted living-wouldn't be more affordable/feasable, and many states (california being one) are willing to help loved one(s) to age/stay in place as reason to build these extra spaces in/on property..putting her in the situation as more benefitting i am researching the state orgs to find out what to do=being as stellar the careful/accurate as i can with gathering as to what to do..including the obtain of funding per any grants.and trusting that having your consultation has us getting away from issue/noise over just purchasing/happenstance model in default assisted: residential (multi bed home stead-with all the red tape & fees/tax justify better?

I understand that you cannot rent out a garage as a living space to someone else, unless properly finished and approved by the city, but could I live in it?

Pretty impressed so far with Tenant Turner's functionality and features, one step closure to automating everything.Showmojo looked great too, although its $30 more a month, so we didn't try it.

I wrote an entire post on how to properly structure "Cash Purchases" that you can read HERE. 

everything you said is actually "not accurate", I really suggest you get good and proper education, join some PRIVATE UNBIASED alumni investment club and such.