Agree with @Jay Hinrichs     It will take time to unravel deteriorating mortgages.  

At some point if the cure becomes worse than the disease and we are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils--one being the majority of the population goes back to work but puts others at higher risk and the other being stay home but our entire way of life unravels and we end up with massive defaults, food riots and 200,000% inflation, I'll go back to work, TYVM.  

Even if it is the case that Cali is past its prime, it would take a long time for places like the Bay Area to unravel. 

When buying properties - you cannot feel bad for passing on a project that is not profitable - it's a numbers game and you are going to look at a lot deals that don't make any sense - and you are going to see deals that look good on the surface but start to unravel when you peel back the layers - that's OK .

So causing problems for my tenants and having to unravel issues is not my ideal way to spend an afternoon.

I would unravel the gift to preserve the step-up in basis, but help grandma out with bills.

Instead, they will buy Drano, or unravel a wire clothes hanger and shove it down the drain to dislodge the clog.Good luck proving that your prematurely rotted out pipes are due to Drano that has long since washed away, or that cracks are due to the clothes hanger and not other causes.My general rule for tenants is exactly what the home inspectors rule is.  

You can't really "pull" that mortgage back out once it is bundled without unraveling the whole thing.

When the recorder denied the documents because they were missing a power of attorney page, we went into a black hole of information that took me a month of phone calls to unravel, and I do mean ME and not THEM.

You need to seek the advice of a professional property manager to unravel this mess.