@John McDermon, be careful about charging late fees in excess of 6 percent because many Cali judges may see this as excessive if you end up in court.

This way, you're not excessively disturbing the tenants and you can have a real offer on the table you can work with.  

Drywall is not good under tile where there is excessive water like a tub.

You do not want to rent to any large families as the damage will be more excessive. 

Do great work, stay excessively organized, create a marketing plan and execute it consistently, take care of your people, donate a small portion of your profits to your favorite local charity, stay involved in your community, participate in any local city council/HOA meetings regarding rentals, understand your industry and be able to articulate what you do, how you do it, and why you are better than the other companies in your area.If you can keep that up, you'll do great!

To me this seems like there is an excess of rental properties in the area, but on the other hand I'm part of a facebook group and see at least 2-3 posts a day about people looking for a place to rent. 

They take an excessive amount of time to do work.

My understanding is that you can use the loss created by accelerated depreciation on your STR to offset your W2 taxes in excess of $25,000. 

Unless they have an excessive amount of equity to take out, buying up into a bigger home is quite costly. 

One of the keys to growth and long term success in any business is to find a way to consistently add value in excess of the fees/profit you make.