It’s too bad your renters didn’t tell you when they received a certified letter saying the Hoa was trying to get ahold of you about a violation which I assume they would have as all fine notices I’ve received have come certified mail.

Lots of things could have happened.Make sure to have your PM send notices about damage, and excessive noise if there is a clause in your lease.

He also may be told that he should make those payments instead of her which is OK but the payment receiver might notice that the payment is from somebody else  and make their boss aware of that and he may enforce that clause of the full balance due clause. 

It took me eight months to get a prior tenant out, and he only left after the marshall's notice, I didn't recover a dime and it cost me over $6K in legal fees.

That is still a win, and then assuming that over time the rents will increase, you will still be ahead.

I know I am not the first person asking these questions, but here we go (and I apologize ahead of time if I'm not asking the smartest questions):-for anyone living in the Los Angeles area, does it make more sense to invest closer to home or out of estate?

After listening to Biggerpockets podcasts and blogs about the author and his new book on note investing, I went ahead and bought the whole package. 

Last week a sheriff showed up to the house according to neighbors but left no notice.

NO one returned calls, emails and then I received city violations notice in the beginning of March for 5K for the exteriors condition, emergency boarding of the property (multiple times) and a variety of other issues.  

All the new buildings here are mixed use and the city announced plans for a head tax coming soon.