Plus, we have an incredible amount of military presence here in San Diego (also different than LA or SF) helping our economy stay afloat in these hard times.

The LTV will be 50% max and think double digit interest rate.Developer financing is rarely available, although there’s quite a bit of “fake” developer financing.

It requires a constant presence, but you will be rewarded. 

With digital photography and storage being so cheap, I'd take WAY more pictures of every little thing in order to properly document.If you feel the landlord is the type to withhold the security deposit, review your state's landlord-tenant laws to see how long he has to return the deposit in full, or any unused portion with an accounting of how it was spent back to you.

On my VRBO I have Honeywell wifi thermostats, Digital Watchdog commercial grade camera system and just added a Rheem wifi water heater.I see no value in adding any of these to a rental as it doesn't increase the rent I get on the unit and I don't pay the utilities.

I upgrade old thermostats to M-F/S-S digital programable (non wifi) thermostats.

with quickbooks and a scanner u can have digital reciepts of every transaction i consider it audit protection but i have a PT employee for this and yes unlike everyone else i have real employees not subs i find i get better rehabs for less money but i am also a contractor i can tell u where i bought anyitem for any property in 2 minutes its awesome easy to setup i can help if u need

There are a lot of hard money lenders out there, some extremely good and reliable and some unfortunately not - I would say do a lot of research on reputation and online presence including Google and BiggerPockets https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Your state may have even more strict laws.I don't know of any requirement to disclose the presence of asbestos, but it could be a state-specific law.Here are some resources to get you started: https://www.hud.gov/states/nor...I highly recommend you talk to an attorney or someone in the HUD office to better understand your responsibilities and get a copy of the applicable laws. 

But usually it is enough of a presence to preclude the worst of the drama.