Well it has been 10 years since then, and my sibling has giving it the bare necessities but has not been able to use the profit from this property to make it grow or be worth more.  

@James Shadoan here’s info on the rent control bill and here’s a link to the bill itself: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?

I have hundreds of thousands rotting in this state not doing much...barely keeping up with inflation.  

Let's face it, one of the reasons they are renting is so that they don't have the responsibility of seeing to repairs, that's my job.If she adds locks, she must provide you with a key, or she removes the locks. 

And is all about you, you need to like people and numbers, and be ready to compete mentally with the challenges you will face.

Completed one flip before (as the investor/handy man help), but the house sat on the market too long and barely made any $.

You'll want to keep money in reserves in the event that one of your rentals cannot wash it's own face (evictions, excessive repairs or damages, etc.)

I barely get any push back with that approach. - That's my two cents, best of luck!

Those that see raising rents and risking losing a tenant a negative generally are not on top of their business and prefer to lose a little every month rather than face the unknown.

First time we actually met face to face with the bank lender was at the closing table.