Do I have to write in the contract that I'm giving 15% of my commission to this skip tracer for finding the listing?

So they can't write a check and send it directly from the account.   

I asked him for notice in writing and after a little back and forth with the "he said, she said" I got fed up and just terminated the lease myself with 30 days notice lacking anything in writing from either tenant.

I do transactional stuff for people all over California (letter writing, contracts, RE transactions, etc.).

I even helped write a few of the first energy codes when Berkeley was working on it.

My Realtor friend told me it is a poor idea in this market to write an offer with Seller Financing.

@Shiva Bhaskar wonderful write up, and your points are so very valid. 

The rest of our 50 carriers will not write homeowners or Dwelling Fire for a building with Knob & Tube. 

I could probably write an entire book on screening tenants but at the very least creating a set of house rules that everyone agrees to is crucial.E -Expect and Embrace a High Turnover Rate – In this method of management, your largest competition is the big-name brand apartments, therefore you need to be prepared to do what they aren’t willing to do.

But it also has "investors" who've done two deals, lost money on both but still believe they are ready to write a book on investing and ready to coach others.