I've had pretty good success the last couple years with a combination of house hacking and building Accessory Dwelling Units.

When you invest in 1-4 units residential property in the Bay Area, you are investing for the appreciation or value-add potential because most properties don't generate positive cashflow.  

For comparison purposes, I hold ownership units in a LLC that owns a retail/service center where there is a mortgage loan that initially represented 50% of value, now about 35%.  

Say, I have a potential client that has asked me to value a 7 unit apartment building.

If they did not provide a forwarding address we send it to the unit address, hoping they filed a change of address form.

I understand this is not a requirement, but I have never received a damaged unit from an inherited tenant or any legal issues.

Once renovations are complete, carefully screen tenants, set clear house rules, and consider furnishing the units with utilities included to attract reliable renters.

I let people do it if they’ll rent a batch of units.

We have been able to save up some money for our first turnkey multiple unit building.

My first deal was 5% down house hack on a 4 unit and then I used equity from that first deal to do 2 more deals once with a cash out refi and once with heloc.