You may be able to evict the non-paying tenant, again upon advise of your attorney. 

(Though, I’d be curious to know how you later learned about the fraud cases - perhaps you should not explain publicly.)

Ya I was going to say this is right up there with tax evation and other ways to screw the govmit.. dont' get caught no big deal get caught and you will probably wish you had not.. plus its just not fair to the investing public..

The only thing the seller listed in the non-disclosure was that there may be lead-based paint in the home.

i am married, my wife  [ 60 y/o ] is also disabled due to no kidneys and is on Home Hemo Dialysis, but she spends hours everyday looking through real estate , and though we have found several great oppurtunities, we have no been able to capitalise on them due to out low income and crummy credit ,  [although when i moved here i had 621 score until when I tried to refi through Loan Depot, they really messed me up and I am not sure what my score is now.]I think the first thing I need to do is repair my credit as best as I can, as well as see what kind of assets and value I have to help me get the investing process going. [ kinda long story packed with lessons there]  Due to a small windfall we have $5,000 earmarked for beginning real estate investing in hopes of getting our of our crushing poverty trench.I want to begin by doing non rehab wholesaling,  but am also wondering if Tax Lien investing might allow me more bang for my few bucks. 

Raise the rent.A property with an indoor swimming pool is worth an extra couple hundred a month!

I work full time at a non-profit for at-risk inner city teens.

Our tenants have our contact information already, but we haven't had any non-residents of the building contact us through the sign on the building. 

As I understand it, we are not allowed to market these properties to strangers publicly (Craigslist, BP Marketplace, etc.) 

Since you live in Milpitas, with regards to your Prop 13 tax basis, if you are 55 years of age or older, check with the Santa Clara County Tax Assessor.https://www.sccassessor.org/index.php/forms-and-publications/forms/60-ah-transfer-your-assessed-value-prop-60-90When I sold my long-time San Jose home three years ago, I considered my tax basis transfer options if I remained in California, but decided to retire to a state with a lower cost of living and no state income tax.