Operating as a landlord means you are in control of somebodies home.

I'm considering Richmond as one of my cities to find a rental in but I have no experience with the rent control practices. 

I want more control over the success of my investments.It’s really hard to grow your business if you are using money from your day job to support your rentals.

Apparently if you sign a lease as an LLC the landlord can't exactly control who is staying in the apartment because it is under an LLC (Let me know if this isn't true).

Maybe you ought to spend more of your time on raising money legally and forming Partnerships that keeps you in control and buying apartment complexes.He ideally looks for a 6 to 8 cap rate. 

But high level:1) If the units rental income doesn't cover mortgage its not going into my buy/hold portfolio , I have a separate "appreciation" portfolio for that on (think San Francisco where CAP rates are 3-4 , but if you can wait out or turn low rent controlled tenants you can improve the building profile.) 2) I am currently looking for places in B- to A- areas.

Here's my wealth formula:  Spend less than you make, and invest the difference in something you understand and control. 

You should be learning the legal way to raise money and forming Partnerships and buying apartment complexes under your control. 

There are some complex structures to mitigate that for sure where the owner might hold assets in a blind trust with no control but you are a one man show and that won't ever pass the smell test to a judge.Asset protection is all about risk tolerance.

The submeters are less than $100 and the gateway which can control a large number of submeters is $1000.