Josh this is a tough oneFirst of all if this was an "above board " contractor meaning he is operating a business legally with Calif St Contractor License, a bond,and liabilty insurance has a commercial vehicle on the road with insurances  theres no way he a charge $50 an hour  in S Calif and make a profit.I am much higher than this guy.In fact any legimate service business in S Calif be it electrician,HVAC,finish carpenter and or plumber is at 200 to 225.00 per hour.You cant charge what grandpa did back in the day.Gasoline is $5.00 a gallon for God sakes.thats cold turkey,,,I would go to a reliable plumbing supply house like Hirsch Pipe and Supply and ask for a couple refferals on good plumbing contractors who buy lots of material and pay their bills on time.Also ask about their "attitude" and if they are "easy to get along with".This will tell you clearly that they are legit and easy to work with.You dont need to- run "an adult day care center" on a job site.They are plenty of good contractors out there that have their "big boy pants on" know what they are doing and get get a job done in and out fast without pissing of the other trades on a job.Having said that ,most competant firms will insist on providing their own material as they now what they like and maker a small profit on its mark up.Hope that helpsDD\

My wife and I keep ample fixed-rate debt on the product we own precisely because of all of this.

The removal of risk however will be almost impossible to accomplish as risk sort of goes hand-in-hand with any investment vehicle. 

Commercial Vehicle is needed liability has limitations for loading and unloading.One phone call and I can have an email or fax sent adding an investor as additional insured.

I am not making a good return in these investment vehicles so I'd rather use that money to buy real estate.

If the rent is being paid that makes sense because when the woman applied you must have approved her based on her income alone.I get the license plate numbers of vehicles staying at the property and check to make sure the registration is valid. 

The other is developing financial independence utilizing the best investment vehicle there is - Real Estate.

Diversification - I think people should be invested in both vehicles. 

Of course, I could pull all of that equity and reinvest it into some other vehicle, but for purposes of some principal protection I would really just be exchanging one for the other, since the 3-6% earned in something fairly bulletproof would be little more than a wash from the marginal tax benefit subtracted from closing & interest costs.

Only one vehicle allowed on property and it must always be licensed and operational.