I'm deciding weather to do a house hack with an FHA loan to get a lower down payment among so many other benefits to house hacking. 

Did you get any forecasts on rent rates in this area?   

Hi Doris: Our 1-year forecast is expected to be around 4.0%. 

The only ones who can shut off utilities are utility companies, no landlord can do that without liability, even utility companies have restrictions, like cold weather, in turning off services.

It's less of a problem in Riverside, but in areas with cold weather they are susceptible to frozen pipes and other problems.It's a cheap product and easy to buy, but you'll be buying it for cash flow and not appreciation.

@Sean McKee The weather is too variable.

But CA is so large from North to South that you can find the perfect weather and still have beaches and mountains withing reach.

In comparison, in some cold weather states you cannot evict people during the winter.

Since the deals are hard to come by, I have settled for investing in a MHP fund that has strong forecasted returns.  

I've always felt that Florida is a good state to invest in because people continue to migrate here for the warner weather.