As most things in life, I think it's combination of luck, your skill with navigating the system, and your ability to build positive relationships.  

Depending on that, I might consider a couple of options. 1) bring the rent to market but suggest to the tenant that you would consider rolling back after the outcome of the Prop 10 vote. 2) Just do the 5% if you think that although the City of Oakland will have the power to implement vacancy control, they may take time to decide how to change any existing rent control system in place.Bear in mind, I am just thinking out loud...I do not know Oakland but also am thinking there may be opportunities for buyers being created because of this Prop 10 uncertainty. 

Then you will have to go to the property and review the footage if you suspect there was a problem.The great thing about having an internet connection is you can get real time motion alerts and you can log into your camera feed and see if someone was breaking into your place and call the police to catch them instead of handing them a video after the fact and hope they can find them.Either way I use a more robust system than the plug in play wifi cameras that are sold at Sam's or Walmart.I use  Digital Watchdog software running on a laptop and DW cameras.

The deal is not too good to be true due to 3 large risk areas that need additional investigation/information1) Actual rent controlled rent versus market value since it's a rent controlled unit.

What are your suggestions on flipping it immediately versus renting it out for a year or two?

I touched almost every system on my side of the property.

Does the BP community know if there are contractors that will install a metering system that will allow the tenants to be billed by, and pay the city for water?

Does the BP community know if there are contractors that will install a metering system that will allow the tenants to be billed by, and pay the city for water?

We are looking for a cloud based (hard wired) security system for a mid-sized apartment building.

If the rents in a particular city are below the US average rents for that specific property type what does that mean? Let's assume the demographics of the city are good.(population increasing, etc.) Pass or more info ...