Do these general guidelines seem to hold true for the above mentioned market as well?

It depends on the age, construction, roof style, etc.

I would agree with most everything mentioned here.  

A middle-aged man can make sound financial decisions, live a financially responsible life, and get hit with a catastrophe that crushes him.I just don't believe that the majority of bankruptcies fall into that category.

I wish I was as ambitious at your age. 

I searched in BP and somebody mentioned I could buy a standard homeowner insurance with an endorcement to the in law unit from Farmers Insurance.

One podcast recently i listened to mentioned that he self manages all his properties to save on the PM fees, but he has some sort of policy with the local utilities that basically gives his tenants a 24hr number to call if something was to happen to say a frig or hvac... he even mentioned it covered a clogged toilet..I am curious what exactly is this such policy he is talking about, because the way he worded it, it sounded like he took most of the headache out of the job with this and he just worries about getting new tenants and collecting rent... he said the policy was cheaper than just keeping a handyman on call to do the repairs.. 

With an occasional exception.Like @Basit Siddiqi mentioned, things are more complicated if you're going to live in one of the units.

there are not enough lawyers on our coast to take care of the massive volume of real estate transactions ala the way its done in attorney closing states.. there would be a big need to scale up if all of a sudden attorneys had to be involved not to mention slow things way down.. the other one that we simply don't do out our way is all the surveying that gets done.. its rare to the extreme to survey a property that was in a lot and block subdivision … but since I build in Charleston you MUST survey there there are encroachments all over the place. but like in Texas they survey lot and block as well.

Win-win.Finally, I'd like to echo what @Sheena Lee mentioned.