I’d love to hear from fellow self-managing landlords about the biggest lessons you’ve learned along the way—whether it’s handling difficult move outs, maintenance strategies, or unique ways to streamline day-to-day operations.

Still, maybe you are over complicating it by trying to buy MF (a difficult asset to manage) on the other side of the county in an area that you have no experience investing in. 

Those can indicate poor management, deferred maintenance, difficult and expensive upkeep like ocean front which will bring up issues with rising oceans, insurance, and hurricanes. 

A busy marketing career.

It's very cheap and not difficult to maintain bond/license/insurance.

These can make crunching numbers a bit more difficult because due to the guessing game. 

Quote from @Jacob Hrip: I’d like to begin my real estate investing career in 2025.

If they are difficult, the current landlord may not give you a straight answer because they want them to find a place and move out.

CA is an expensive market and regarding tenant laws in my eyes more complicated/difficult as a rookie landlord.

In all honesty, it will be difficult to collect anything from the tenant after they move out and you cannot force them to stay.