I read Brandon Turner's book on Managing Rental Properities and used all the BP advice on tenant screening - and it landed me amazing tenants in this first go round. 

Will be opening up a new round in Q1 2021.

If you think you will work less, or have less balls to juggle by being self employed, you may be mistaken.Your lifestyle may improve (or may degrade) depending on how you how much you like or dislike doing the self employed things you must do.You might make more (bonuses) working W2 at 70+ hours than you will investing (in some positions, for some employers), others exploit their workers terribly, and treat them bad.

Given the year-round attraction of Tahoe it was a no-brainer (Covid won’t be around forever).

This is a huge bonus to them as long as it is structured properly.

I also give bonus, I make it REALLY easy to work with me.

As far as Palmdale or Bakersfield, I figure I don't have the time for two to four-hour round trips...

Bonus question: Is there a way we can pass the MACRS depreciation of property after stabilization onto the investors to provide them a tax benefit?

And if you want to implement a penalty clause, then you'll need to have a bonus for completion before a deadline. 

Give yourself a window of time to accomplish any repairs required between residents.As an added bonus, when you pre-lease your home you have more time to screen and interview prospects instead of being rushed to make a last-minute, less-thoughtful decision.These are just a few of the action items that professional property management companies employ every day to ensure low vacancy and happy clients.