If one of my rentals is going to become available, I have several fresh applications before the tenant moves out.

Rip em out and start fresh.

Not really, you'll rent the house at $1800/month (or maybe move into it and house hack with roomies) and break even on it every month (ignoring vac/maint/repairs, after all it is freshly rehabbed) and ignoring the positive side of paying down the principal, and sell it in five years when the market is better.

@S ThakkarI’d partner with someone who has experience and then bring the money to the table.For a three story garden you might ballpark $105-$120 / nrsf on 850 NRSF unit avg.

I rent out a garden apartment in my house that shares the laundry room with us.

We are planning on moving out of California so maybe the best option is just to sell and start over fresh?

I give them a short list of properties in the same area that are fresh on the market. 5 days later the agent may be ready to take me through one of them (because all the others are gone). 

Regency Park and Highland Gardens are areas of high crime, as well as areas West of Norman Bridge Rd and North of the Northern Bypass by the Zoo. 

I am pretty fresh at this myself  and have learned in this short amount of time that the want to succeed at this wasn't enough.

Most just needs fresh paint, minor repairs to make ready for resale.