I will go by today and take pictures of what I think is at least a tie or maybe a little worse.

Could it be that the supply and demand fundamentals are stronger in CA because more people want to live here then there are properties to house them?

If your tenants take the landlording entity to court and win a judgment, you don't want to risk losing (or even tying up) the asset itself.I'd talk to a real estate accountant and an asset protection attorney about your best options.

My other option is to use that space to do a cheaper (no kitchen/bath) addition that ties in w the house for an upstairs media room/office and adds 500sq' to my house size.I know there are a lot of details I'm leaving out about my personal situation - but just a general answer is all I'm looking for from a more seasoned investor than myself.

That buyer will leave 3.5% of the purchase price behind in my seller's pocket if they bounce.So in essence, the larger the down payment, the stronger the offer - all else being equal.

It gives the client a stronger investment into the deal, and makes them think about requesting foolish things.

What we are seeing is the mid-term rental market (ski lease, J1 workers) is stronger than the STR at the moment. 

"Trust Acres"- have some acres tied up in a trust. 

Agree if you own it out right it will cash flow but then more equity is tied up in property? 

It almost sounds like this may be something that a CRM (podio, etc) can tie into and automate with one of the direct mail places.