The reasoning behind choosing SFH is so that I can start slow (self-managing) and work my way up to a modest but sizeable passive income stream, mostly made up of houses that I've previously lived in. 

A few years in I ended up running the shop 3 days a week when another employee (2nd in command) left for another city.

The market I am in is very competitive and pricey so I decided to go out of state.

Don't much care for the winters so I am often daydreaming about buying something in a warmer climate to escape to when the northern dreariness sets in.  

When its possible to see literally nothing but ads while scrolling through the forum, that is a HUGE turn off, for me at least.Besides that, because you can now only see 2-3 articles on the screen at once it takes a lot of work (scrolling is hard, #FirstWorldProblems) to find a topic that you might be interested in. 

Doing a search in the forum, it appears a lot of people recommend striking or amending that part of the agreement before starting the contract, but we're already 8 months in.

What if a pipe burst or someone broke in? 

"Would you be willing to extend your lease a year at these terms, then putting sod in is worth it to me, I want to help I just don't want to do something if you are moving out in 3 months etc"

Properties are very expensive in LA, but I really want my first purchase to be one I can manage and possibly live in.  

@Sophie Latapie In the world of eviction moratoriums we now live in I would not include utilities (or anything else) with rent.