I have tried 2 open houses on the weekend but no one shows. 

Your feedback on who to open a self-directed IRA with would be amazing.

I am however open to any areas within the Inland Empire area as long as the renter market is high.I've been looking for RE groups and communities and found the Inland Empire Real Estate Investment Club, which I plan on attending soon to really focus on networking and "building my team." 

If instead I redo the window frames and restucco/drywall so the window openings are a standard a rectangular shape, the cost of each window falls dramatically to only $500.

Then a few months later when I have the property in contract to sell my title company turns up an open mortgage. 

This is an open discussion and I would love to hear about it.

It buys both of you some time and opens up options (I love options) at the very least.

We are going to fence in our front yard and lock the gates so no one can open the gate and thus lose the dog.

As always in any situation with a tenant, it is best to build rapport with them and have an open door so if financial troubles were to appear, you are on the short list of notification of such events, and work with them towards a situation that makes everyone as whole as possible.

I asked them if their windows were opened and they said no.