And ones ran like the wild west.... 

They are biased WILDLY in favor of the tenant, and if you screw up, they can sue and be awarded triple damages.

Many of the investors in RI are on here, others can be found in local networking groups like RIREIG or Black Diamond REI, and many others you only encounter out "in the wild" when you're doing deals.

Democrats accumulating more and more power in California as the demographics continue to shift wildly in their favor means rent control is absolutely inevitable in coastal areas of Southern California.

Are these something I have to maintain or can I just let run wild for the most part?

This is not a wild new concept: I'm sure you've heard the terms "guilt culture" and "shame culture" before.So whenever you feel embarrassed, suspect you're being manipulated, perhaps even unconsciously, by other people and your own feelings and the ideas this society had tried to brainwash you with to keep you in line.

We get wild fires occasionally, but luckily droughts are not very often.

- Oscar Wilde

These are some wild stories!

There are some things you can do to protect yourself, such as getting multiple estimates and sticking with contractors that are reputable (for example, I found that sites that have a rating that contractors need to maintain like Angie's List provides better contractors versus places like Craigslist where it's the wild West.).