The rental demand especially in Lake County is incredibly high with a lot of people migrating from Illinois.

So I've been thinking about ways to increase the overall income from a few duplexes that I own in NE Ohio and wanted to see if anyone else had ever tried this, after searching the forums I didn't see much on topic, but if anyone has experience, I'd love to hear how it turned out (the good, the bad & the ugly so to speak)...I've noticed over the past two years that there are only two approaches to washer's and dryers, either provide them as part of the rent or only hookups are included.  

Trying it on the cheap is far from a good approach. 

This is incredibly easy to do.

So that gives you some freedom and options, you do not have to do a 1031 so less pressure.Depending on how much you make on that determines what you do once you get to CA.I would simplify your life and move to CA first and rent, dont buy anything until you know and are clear on your objectives.An average 4 plex in So Cal is hitting $1.5m - really tough to make that work. 4 units in LA is really out of whack.And do the "rent where you live and buy where you rent" much better approach than trying to buy $1m dollar shack in LA.Palm Springs is interesting and you can find some decent priced properties and some work as an AirBNB so that is interesting but I would run you calculations on standard rents and not base it on Short term rentals.

He was there doing some repair work the other day and the owner approached him and said the HVAC needs to be removed.

Thanks for the responses everyone--very helpful to hear about your approaches. 

You have to assume their current lease until it expires, but you can approach them after closing and see if they would want to sign on a new updated lease.

Multis are incredibly rare with incredibly high demand, you just won't get an offer accepted being at that bog of a competitive disadvantage.Also with FHA, you wont find a 4 unit in the area that meets the FHA self sufficiency test if you use a low down payment on it.

I am so incredibly proud of this property and even through some of the "hardships" i experienced throughout this process i could not be happier with the lessons learned and all of the value gained.This is a real life example with real numbers.