I believe the city council or something needs to be involved, it’s an involved process, I would assume it’s a single family & go off that, the fact that it’s been illegally converted to a multi family is not a factor in the success or failure of trying to get it zoned as a multi.

And back to start, to be the best at what one does, takes a commitment to not 9-5 but living it, exercising, train train train, and being a leader. leaders are teachers who motivate and own others failures. 

Under California foreclosure law, can a vendor place a mechanics lien on a home for work performed for the prior owner after the foreclosure sale and the recording (perfecting) of the deed?

That's what everyone was doing 20 years ago and it resulted in a housing collapse.If you borrow 100%, you are over-leveraged and at risk of failure.

CFDs where I am aren't foreclose-able unless you were to turn the failure to perform on the agreement into a judgment.

There can be many reasons for failure, and there can be many situations where investors perceive that a failure has occurred when there has not been a failure.I wrote an article for the BiggerPockets blog last week that talked about failures in the context of syndication sponsors that have turned non-responsive...perhaps that's a help. 

It's fear based which is a safety mechanism. 

All of your mechanical systems are interconnected, and you will want to know from your electrician if you will need to upgrade the service no matter which direction you go.

This is a company that will perform scheduled inspections of your rental property to identify deferred maintenance needs, dubious tenant activities (say, illegal pets, bad housekeeping, failure to change HVAC filters etc). 

Just like anything it comes down to doing your due diligence and inspecting the property before you buy it so you are aware of the age of the capex and all the mechanicals.