There are many reasons.  

There are a ton of complexities with properly repairing a fire damaged house....they sell really cheap for a reason.

Hi @Damon Diddit I would avoid Newark at all costs. 

I am seeing a trend in CA that ADU construction is more cost effective (per unit) than buying on the market by a long shot.

Take your sales price, minus selling costs, minus any capex, minus purchase price and that’s your taxable gain.

If they tenant is $300 below market, that's costing you $3,600 a year.

to save costs, and responses sometimes took weeks.

I BELIEVE this credit would be treated just like covering buyer’s closing costs. 

I would ask the insurance company for more documentation on the reasoning. 

From there we identify properties that could have some potential and if you are interesting in diving deeper, 1) we do a thorough video walkthrough to give you a realistic look of the property, 2) we give a ballpark estimate of rehab costs (we do 40 a year with our GCs o we will get pretty close), 3) we talk through market rent with our property management team, ARV, and potential highest and best use.Ideally you find great investor agents who know their market really well and have a network of resources to provide you with enough confidence to take reasonable action.