I should be taking much more time and care to assess my own risks (safety, legal, and financial). 

In the past I have had in-house maintenance staff that could easily be re-prioritized to solve many issues very quickly, but using contractors slows the process down considerably.

You have the right and arguably the responsibility to remove this animal and/or the resident from your property.According to HUD: "The FHA does not require a dwelling to be made available to an individual whose tenancywould constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals or whose tenancywould result in substantial physical damage to the property of others.A housing providermay, therefore, refuse a reasonable accommodation for an assistance animal if the specificanimal poses a direct threat that cannot be eliminated or reduced to an acceptable levelthrough actions the individual takes to maintain or control the animal"You can read the full HUD guidelines here: https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfil...The ESA abuse by tenants is ridiculous. 

DBS is Department of building and safety.

Because this is my first-time investment, should I prioritize Condo/Apartments over SFR to minimize unforeseen expenses? 

Reno to accommodate 6 bedrooms and fire safety precautions.

And all you're asking between cash-flow / budget / safety is very paradoxical each other, especially in Oakland.

I would definitely recommend prioritizing the new bigger pockets book "Real Estate by the Numbers" by J Scott and Dave Meyer if you are seriously looking at getting started within the next year or so.Making this jump is super scary and can be stressful but it will be worth it if you put the work in!

Things that are safety or structure related should be the first things to repair.  

My friend in Safety Harbor gave up on Airbnb and is happy with VRBO.