City took forever, emails to my architect from city went into spam folder, emails from architect to city went into spam folder etc. 9 months to get permitted; luckily no hurry and had to wait until recently to start anyways.Had intentions of doing this hands-on as owner-builder for (I hoped) around $40k, but instead hired a contractor total cost hands-off at $53k; 360sf garage conversion.Most upset that the Long Beach Unified School District charged me $1,440 impact fees even with a letter from the Housing and Community Development Dep't stating that they can't charge me that fee.

(I have had tenants turn the AC off when they move out or the heat in winter)- We require they have someone check on the property if they leave it for more than 5 days (This is to make sure there are no water leaks or HVAC issues that lead to problems while they are gone)- No businesses can be run from the property (to prevent day care, laundry services, gambling, drugs or who knows what)- We specify yard care includes week spraying and cleaning up sticks less than 1" in diameter (otherwise tenants think yard care is mowing only)- We state that tenants utilities can be used for routine maintenance or repairs (I once had a tenant complain the roofers were using his power for their compressors)- We have a whole section on mold stating that mold is naturally occurring and results from excess moisture.

With the appreciation you are actually gambling that the market won't take a turn for the worse.

But I see other seniors in my building with gambling problems (lots of Indian casinos around here), who smoke cigarettes and/or pot, who spend their money at the local bar, going out to eat, buying new clothes, etc.  

I'd leave it at that, unless you want to gamble regarding them taking you to court.If your contract says you provide a working fridge, then fixing it would be on you anyway.But, you can sure charge them for cleaning it - if you did everything else right.  

If I lived in another part of the country and I did the same thing started as an agent at 18 and a broker at 20 and the play was to stack cash flow rentals because appreciation is gambling etc.. that's what I probably would have done and would done.Keep in mind in the 50 60 70s and into the 80s people got started in real estate buying cheap land all over the country as an investmentit was not until about 2001 2002 that smart folks said hey CA real estate is sky hi lets start selling mid west rentals to CA people and other high priced markets.. that's how the turnkey industry or OOS investing industry started..

You do your best prior to move in to background check but there is always a bit of a gamble.

That's a lot of gambling if you ask me.Then lets think about their case.

The only down side to being older, in my opinion (other than physical limitations mentioned) is not wanting to gamble on having to start over by making mistakes due to ignorance of laws or a market or being taken advantage of by a bad PM. 

To not accept them is just a gamble on whether or not you think your applicants are not savvy enough to know they can sue you, and that is a gamble I would rather not take in a place like San Francisco.