I open another checking account alongside my primary.

Get a good PM, and your returns will continue year in and year out with very few hiccups.

Are you doing RE sales full time or alongside the W2?

The current poltical climate will be a small hiccup in an otherwise quick cultural change towards legalization.

We closed 12 days after the contract was finalized with no hiccups.

I'm not sure if I understood your post correctly, if she moved in last October, or recently, but it was not uncommon for there to be a hiccup in getting the sewer bill in the tenant's name in the first 1-3 months.

In Northern CA (the real northern CA) Shasta, Trinity, Humboldt counties with the hot weather and long seasons, there's plenty of cartels out in the forests growing, alongside legal growers now,  With growing pot becoming legal, many of those that once bought from others can now grown their own.

Another tactic would be to invest in a fund that has residential debt as its primary asset class, this way you are a passive investor along side other investors and your funds are spread across multiple assets which helps to spread out the risk.

Go all out and play the risk game alongside others who have a low cost portfolio to keep them afloat if disaster strikes?

Onto the "what would you do" question...Personally I'd recommend finding an investor to bring deals to alongside a day job.