If it were mine, I'd put in a very small rental office, just a half door walk up with a room for a desk and 8 tall file cabinets (and a half bath for management use).Sleeve A/C and electric heat the office with some benches out front for residents and wanna-renters to sit on.And use the rest of the place as rent-able units, except for maintenance storage areas. 

@David DeLancey  Hard / Private money is probably going to be the way to go as pot is still illegal at the federal level. 

Policies in CA change faster than coffee pots at Starbucks.My question is how and where do you guys gather information about local county laws regarding SRT and REI in general?

@Marian Smith this is the normal and the bench line.

As an agent: A raccoon came out from under a bench in a foreclosure and walked through the room and out the door to the other room in a huff like he owned the place & we were interruptingAs a homeowner: I bought a house decorated with wicker, clown paintings and mirrors (tripled in value since 2012)As an investor: I had a tenant who wasn't paying her rent.

Unless you already have a plateful, have a big pot of money to invest or are going to knock on doors I think it seems you can do both with reasonable success using available tools.

The renter was just overall disrespectful of the space and took advantage of things where they could there's a lot more to it than that but I'm trying to keep things short, Ish.I have a folder of basic House Rules like a lights out time and we all should be aware that sound travels, basic stuff.But one particular thing that urged me asking her to leave was I came home from a real estate job around 2am to a pot on the stove that was at a rolling boil and a pan in the oven, meanwhile she is asleep.Going off this it makes me feel like I need to put a rule down for every little thing even though it seems common sense not to leave cooking food unattended.Does anyone have any advice for some house rules that they have created that they would like to share?

Sweeten the pot and offer him a little cash up front to entice him to carry you.

You just discovered, the biggest pot of gold this side of your nearest rainbow. 

Kind of like a frog in a slowly boiling pot, you don't realize how bad it is getting until it's too late.