I'll wait until I have more experience in RE before I'll wholeheartedly agree with you, but I would feel like I had more control in RE already and I've read into both.

.- no rent control

In addition, Tenant shall not knowingly, intentionally, deliberately, or negligently destroy, deface, damage, impair, or remove any part of the Premises or knowingly permit any person within Tenant’s control to do so.

California generally makes pest/vermin control the landlord's responsibility, unless you can prove that the pests/vermin were caused or invited by the tenant. 

Get the smart/remote devices and put a lock on them for a certain time/temperature.

There is a little fear on my end in giving up control on those areas ;)

In this way you can control the rights to the property and approach tenants to negotiate an LOI and then execute a lease before closing on the property/If area is good generally demand is there unless developers are slamming up so much product there is an oversupply to demand.

To put it plainly, I decided to take control of my life journey and change its trajectory.

sounds like you have it in control!

Contact 2 or 3 to interview them personally then make your choice.TD Ameritrade and Fidelity do not offer truly "self-directed" IRA, they might offer some control, but only within confines of their allowed investments, which is confined to the stock market and does not include alternative investments such as private lending.