Don´t tell me NO, tell me HOW! (help me think outside the box)

[Viviana Ramirez]

Hi BP members!

I am very grateful that I have found this site; during the last six months, I have been educating myself listening to the Podscast (at least two a day), I´ve been reading your blogs, discussions, and the recommended books etc. Im dedicating my time, energy and soul to learn as much as possible from you guys.

I'm a serial entrepreneur from Colombia and recently moved to LA (Santa Monica). I have rental income properties in Colombia and (long story short) I've decided to choose the path of real estate investment as my jcareer here in the US, my new home.

This is my current situation:

1. I have 200K cash

2. I just got my CA real estate licence :)

2. I have time 

3. Access to credit (traditional loans) given my husband's excellent credit score and fixed income.

4. I am a fast learner, hard worker and a hustler.

5. I speak Spanish and English (I believe this is an advantage)

I would love to invest (especially flip/rehab) here in Southern California, but I am getting tired of people telling me that is IMPOSSIBLE to start investing here, IMPOSSIBLE to cash flow positive, IMPOSSIBLE to rehab if I dont have at least 1,000,000 cash in my pocket.

I even attended yesterdays Webinar "How to find Incredible deals" and discussed it with an experienced Flipper this morning. The flipper said that none of that applies in this SoCal market, and that it is basically impossible to find good deals. Moreover, even if I do, contractors are charging crazy prices. and I can't compete with cash buyers.

Is it really like this? What would you do in my place with 200K Cash to work with? I really want to do this for a living as a full time job. 

Ideas?