Only one contractor included trade repairs which brought the final total to $22k.

I hope my abilities will serve me right with real estate investments.I am interested in buy and hold or fix & flip deals of SFH up to $250K.I would be happy to get some tips and start building connections and a local team.I appreciate your help,Chen Hi Chen, I am also an engineer by trade but am now a full-time investor and agent. 

I got solar on our Primary, we are in Denver, and basically i traded an electric bill for a solar bill, at the time. 3 years later it is actually cheaper than the electric bill and we do get a check every year.I did hear that getting a battery bank helps make it more worth while. 

If you want to trade your money for time by hiring a PM, I recommend going with a local PM who knows the market well. 

Has anybody been successful partnering with a GC to sign off on permits and have preferred subs available for trades? 

The trade part, is exactly that, information you should know about the trade. 

Hopefully a long time California investor will stop by here to encourage you, but in case they don't please consider attending the OC Apartment Association Trade Show March 28 9am - 3pm @ .

@Jay Hinrichs has mentioned multiple times about trading lumber options in the past.henry ? 

On that playing field, everyone's costs go up just to stay in the game, only to end up in exactly the same place competitively.Better to spend the money on acquiring (or trading up to) properties with really defensible differentiators like a great view, great location, or lots of bedrooms.  

Each approach has risks and trade offs.