Bummer to see you and the family heading back to AZ....good thing for you would be no more commuting.My thoughts on your questions:1.

"experienced" Realtor, again, no more than $298,000 SP and in lieu of a discount off the sales price , you simply need to negotiate $9000 seller credit to pay her closing costs, you got it? 

I've seen some HOA's have rules like "no renting out the unit in the first year of ownership" (which wouldn't work too well if you only bought the property to be a rental and didn't intent to move into it), or "no more than 10% of the units can be rentals at any given time" (and that percentage had already been reached and there was a waiting list years long).  

One new model says no more deaths after June 21st. 

They stopped responding when there was no more allowance for bookings.

I'm new on real estate and I've been analyzing deals and since I don't have that much money I'd be putting no more that 3.5% on a loan but I'd be using it to buy two separate properties.

My lease allow for "guests" to stay no more than 3 nights at a time and no more than a total of 6 nights.I recently rented to a young couple with 2 kids.

Yes, my insurance carrier said they would insure the 2 rental properties I currently have titled in LLC name, but NO more.

No more painting, soiled carpets, Saturday/Sunday/night calls.6. 

Under California law (AB 1482), annual rent increases are capped at 5 percent plus the change in the regional Consumer Price Index (CPI), or no more than 10 percent of the lowest gross rental rate charged the tenant at any time during the twelve (12) months prior to the effective date of the increase.