I am working for Finance of America (Backed by black stone) and we are the first branch started in the Bay Area and growing ourselves rapidly.

Bamboo can be controlled, is there a black plastic edging around the area that it is in ?

Others are unemployed, and there are a few "black sheep" that no one wants to deal with.  

My tenants are complaining about tiny black ants in the kitchen.

If everyone else is contacting by direct mail, maybe you could get Skip Trace (or TLO).Being the black sheep isn't always a bad thing.GOOD LUCK!!

Welcome @Whitney Zelee..One of the first things i did when i started investing 2 years ago was getting the real estate license and that definitely helped me, especially with learning the market.Don't forget to join a local REIA.I personally like the Black Diamond networking event in Waltham. 

If you opt to stage the apartment hang a few black and white prints and add a pop of color.I guess just choose something that looks good with the flooring and the lighting in the room and stay away from crazy colors.

It is in a great location, and listed for an unusually low price for this area,  and it didn't even look that bad in the online photos (for a foreclosure), so I figured it must have something unusually negative about it that wasn't readily apparent, like "black mold" or whatever. 

Either brown or black.

So a group that has good networking and interesting topics but is a hour or more away may be a good choice if you meet the people you need to connect withOnce you have located a few groups that you like, get on their email list or meetup notifications so that you can attend events that interest you.You are welcome at our Black Diamond events, URL in my profileGood luck!