My question to y'all good folks: Do you know of, or can you recommend, a company or brokerage that deals in property management in California that I could work for full-time and learn everything there is to know? 

This will have full legal paperwork and rent.

We were tired of renting and didn't know what we were doing at the time.

I would check and see how many 1 bed and 2 bed options there are and what they are priced at because most folks will prefer the full place to themselves so rooming 2 people together could make getting bookings a bit more difficult (not always the case but something to consider)

It takes time to deploy money.

Enough to make it a full time business? 

Rather than renovating the single-family home, we decided to pursue new construction to unlock the property's full value potential.

Try to anticipate other potential avoidable situations with a follow up inspection to assess the Locksmith’s work and ask your tenant(s) if you can also use the time to assess for other issues such as unchanged HVAC filters, leaky pipes, working shutoff valves, working smoke detector batteries, properly working downspouts, clogged dryer vents, evidence of water damage from leaking roof, etc,etc,etc.

It's my understanding that the Tax Claim Bureau (TCB) will record the TCB deed - you are not in control of that recording once the TCB has been paid in full.

So you're paying for the full interest amount on a higher rate without the tax savings.