Many stockbrokers and insurance salesmen are not fiduciaries. 

This is also accounting for my increase in insurance costs due to adding insurance to the ADU. 

@Kenneth Jenkins you forgot to mention owners that expect a PMC to use contractors off Craigslist that are unlicensed, NOT insured and rarely have acceptable experience/skill - but, they quote the "best" price.These same owners will sue a PMC if using these types of contractors results in a tenant lawsuit.

I worked with developers and contractors for many years and the best way I saw this type of situation proceed was for the individual to partner with a mass homebuilder - depends on how big the property is - and also partner with a GC to install the infrastructure to the specs of the homebuilder.

You must use a work around and send it to yourself, then proceed to fill out the application as a prospective tenant clicking next to be able to see each next page! 

Private mortgage insurance i believe is not charged on va loans.  

. - some strategies I've seen California investors use to lessen negative cash flow: house hacking, mid-term rentals (people temporarily displaced from home renovation or insurance reasons like fire), rent by the room, Short Term Rentals. - The ultimate house hack, live in the small ADU unit and rent out the two levels of the main house on AirBnb in San Francisco (I would have thought STRs are oversaturated in S.F. but it worked for them and they stay fully booked).

You invest in something else, for example in a more profitable place, and the you use the proceeds of the investment to buy a property in Costa Rica when you retire.

I've done plenty of deals without and agent, off market not even on the MLS but I'm one of those wholesalers that did things properly, had qualified buyers before even reaching out to sellers and strictly stuck with assignments.Biggest problem is so many "wholesalers" barely have the understand of a deed or what title insurance is so there's an immense amount of knowledge they need before hand which can just be provided to them by getting a license!

When I filed a claim, my insurance company denied it because the property was under rehab and not rented.