It sounds like you’ve got a solid foundation with your rental property, and I love the ambition behind your plans to build a property management and maintenance company—it’s a great way to take control of your investments while creating additional opportunities.Best of luck to you! 

Ensure you collect a proper security deposit (typically one month's rent in Florida) to cover potential damages.Your plan to increase rent next year makes sense given rising costs (taxes, insurance, and maintenance).

I also have a friend that bought brand new construction, but had to shell out tens of thousands in repairs because the home wasn't built properly, the inspection didn't catch the issues, the builder didn't have a warranty on the property, and insurance didn't cover all the problems.

These are 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom properties that I had originally planned to keep in my rental portfolio, but my plans changed.

I want to have a game plan in action prior to reaching out to lenders. 

You would need a premium plan. 

Originally from Africa, I’ve embraced new opportunities to build a better future, and real estate is at the core of my financial freedom plan. 

That means paying all cash isn’t an option unless you plan to bring another $600k to the table. . 

This would apply to your unit.Your biggest concern with setting the rent should be the near future. 1) Your insurance is guaranteed to go up, probably dramatically.  2) You may get an insurance assessment bill to cover the CA Fair Plan losses.

Plenty of people do have 10-20 unit and work thru it, you just need to think it thru and have a plan if you don't want to do all the work.