It's all agreed to in the rental agreement.They can always contest the charges, but I document heavily and have never lost a claim.

California laws are so tenant friendly and heavily regulated I decided to pull out.  

As stated in the post, I am definitely leaning very heavily to investing in another house hack and building up the equity further for future plans. 

There are going to be predators lurking, just get yourself heavily familiarized with what you're doing, protect yourself defensively and go on the offensive. 

I'm also hesitant to bet heavily on permanent tax deferral strategies (e.g., "buy, borrow, die") as a lot could change about the tax code over my lifetime.

Columbus is experiencing some great growth due to the tech industry investing pretty heavily here in Central Ohio and the landlord laws are completely night and day compared to CA - especially with the "Justice for Renters Act" coming up on the November ballot. 

(I have been heavily influenced by biggerpockets to relinquish my hatred of debt --  @Brandon Turner, I'm blaming you if I go bankrupt)  BiggerPockets is like one form of religion and Dave Ramsey is another form.   

being out of the country is going to make you heavily reliant on your team on the ground.

NO MONEY DOWN.There should be a bounty on these supposed "gurus".At least 4 books have been published and are being heavily promoted in the last year with the theme of purchasing an existing highly profitable business with no equity investment.  

Yep, just be careful with the information you see since it is heavily geared to Americans.There is a decent groups of Canadians on here.