This will give you one critical piece of information, that it may take X days to get an offer and sell, and the second item will give you what your competition is right now.

The seller is offering seller financing at 2% interest with a 9-year balloon.

Right now, the best offers around me are for some 1.3-4 million, that only generated around 100k per year gross, so there would be a high chance of not cash flowing, and paying money, especially with a commercial loan (these buildings have more than 4 units).I was thinking that although the rental itself does not generate money, I would be able to deduct the mortgage interest, and depreciation from my personal w2 income and would be net positive.

Purchasing a “distressed” property and “repositioning” it requires significant capital for improvements, build outs, holding costs, maintenance.In looking for that “needle in a haystack” slam dunk great deal you’re competing with very knowledgable, greatly experienced investors with the cash to make no contingency offers and close in a few days.  

Then the person is soured on gambling on real estate and not around here to answer questions. 

Steadily has their own product (with multiple writing companies) and then they offer policies through other carriers just as an independent agency would. 

The investors I know finding properties on the MLS are making 30+ offers a week, embarassing offers, in hopes of finding 1 or 2 properties a month.Others are door knocking, cold calling, spending money on mailers to find off market properties.  

I assumed this would be the case because the rest of what California has to offer kind of sucks.

One long-shot option is to offer a lease at something like $1,300. 

Depending on what the potential jobs offer in terms of income, does this seem like a realistic strategy?