I've had no trouble attracting interested "investors" however, they always low ball me.

Some did good but few had bad luck with tenants/vacancy/ or other emergency that hindered with mortgage payments and had their properties go into short sale or foreclosure even with a decent paying full time job.

In short, CA is very business friendly, landlord friendly...not.b) And how do you propose to "separate out asset holding from operations side" ?

When that life emergency happens and a tenant can’t work, even for a short time, section 8 kicks in more rent so you still get paid. 

This is done often in short sales when the irs receives nothing.

One particular strategy that interests me a great deal is short-term corporate rentals.

However, if you are looking at short term flips, the chances of you getting screwed on stock market skyrocketing during that short period is slim so it may workout. 

The complex used to be a low end motel until it was converted into a kind of short term apartment complex.

If it's worth less than 115k your only option is to buy it through a short sale. 

I would call, be extremely brief, explain you'll be following up with an email shortly, say goodbye, and then press send.