@Johnathan Williams, you nailed it! 

@Andrew Neal you nailed it.... its billed as the "no money" way into real estate.

This house is plaster as opposed to drywall used in modern construction.The carpenter would nail the slats to the studs and then apply plaster.    

pretty much nailed it.. but to be frank foreclosures in 90% of states are at record lows and will continue that way.. as mortgages written the last 10 years are much stronger than the previous mortgages.. there will always be foreclosures but its not nearly the volume it was 7 to 10 years ago.. or even prior to 08 melt down.

@Lou LaMedica I'd have to say @James Wise hit the nail on the head. 

Its a little tricky but once you nail it down you will be investing in real estate without any of the hassel of actually investing. 

I am currently looking for a STR in Palm Springs and really trying to nail down expenses.  

We own the property and would not be purchasing a new piece of land.Property tax would come on at around 15k/yr or 1250/moI got a quote on insurance that would put it at 8,500/yr or 710/moThe number I'm having a really hard time trying to nail down is the price per foot to build. 

If you lease option, you should sort of model it after the car market, as they have the lease / option thing nailed.

It also seems your expenses are low by about 20%, quick and dirty rule you should be using 50% of revenue as expenses until you can nail down the actuals for deeper analysis.