3) Dealing with Contractors: guess you found it's not as easy as the "gurus" make it out to be. 4) S8 slightly above.guarateed Rents: typical naive mistake.

Also a good opportunity to learn some DIY maintenance and make some contractor contacts,etc.  

I’ve got a deal with my contractor where I pay him around $4,000 every 4-6 weeks and he does my plowing, my mowing, and all the maintenance he can do.

Look at Homes.com or Realtor.com to get an idea what that type of property is selling for (look at the ones Pending or Under Contract)...or, look in the county's GIS system to see what similar properties sold for.Once you have an idea what a fair market value would be, let the landlord (if they're interested in selling) mention their price. 

I'm a contractor and just did a bid on an SB9 project in Los Angeles County - Altadena area (building permit jurisdiction).

Agents and Lenders are typically a little more available than a good PM or Contractor.

It also gave me a month to order furniture and think through the decorations and line up contractors so all in all, it was a win to keep the rentals. 

The seller had a military contractor job with security clearance.

Areas close to BlueOval City will likely see an increase in housing development, including single-family homes, apartments, and short-term rental properties for contractors and temporary workers.

Also consider contacting houses that look vacant, simply door knocking in a neighborhood that you are interested in and talking to the homeowners in a genuine way, For Sale By Owners is another potential, using an App like Nextdoor or Facebook pages/groups related to local real estate and just telling the group what you are looking for, contractors also know about houses coming on the market soon and so do property management companies, and finally garage sales are a good way to find off-market properties as people prepare to sell.To Your Success!