For areas with hard water, a few times a year you should turn off the water supply and the gas, connect a garden hose to the drain connection and fully drain the tank.

We discussed everything but really, I picked most colors and wall textures, he picked plumbing supplies and windows etc.

I fully agree with Michael McGee: Sell your interest in the property as fast as possible to your new partner who paid the back taxes and redeemed the property - unless so much lot of value in the property and profit to be made by staying in the deal and putting up with the many problems of finding and negotiating with all of the other 13 heirs to buy their interests out at bargain prices that is a really smoking hot deal! 

Is it more important to be near my own residence, potentially limiting supply, or would it be more advantageous to cast a wider net, realizing the management becomes more challenging?

I didn't smoke so he just counted it as a break.

., or using creative financing to make their deals work.If you're looking through the MLS or having a realtor supply you with product that is on the market then its highly likely you'll find, and it appears you already have, that those deals won't work.So my suggest to you is that if you want to buy property in the Bay Area, and have it cash flow, and have an opportunity to benefit from any capital gain over time, then you need to research how to find opportunistic and value add real estate deals, and how to buy then using creative financing.Do those two things and the world will literally be your oyster!

I wouldn't be surprised however, to see a market correction within the next few years partially because of the abundance of new supply we have seen lately.

They claim to supply leads for asset based and hard money lenders across the nation (fix and flips, construction, etc.).

Supply is great for rentals, but demand is also very high, due to the high amount of transitory residents.Charlie

Willing to give you my time for free so if you need help with anything, ordering supplies, keeping track of costs, project management, etc., im willing to assist you.