I am looking to buy cash and fix and flip, but wondering if I should just keep my powder dry and wait. 

Dry naturally and repeat.If it's a flip, I'd source wood look laminate or the above mentioned tiles.

So when contracts dry-up, so does RE.Classically, Palmdale was intended to be an alternative to the LAX airport, just like Ontario. 

(He/she just may or may not have enough "dry powder", at any give time, to buy them all)2.

What happens when VC funding slows down, which it has started to, or even dries up? 

Wow, sounds like a great way to get into a house for nothing, while keeping some powder dry on the side @Brian Volland.The only other thing that might be a useful metric would be to do present value calculations on the portion of cash flow that you would effectively hold in reserve for future CapEx, rainy day funds, etc.

In actuality, we had the unit ready in 3 days (clean out, dry out, paint, carpet, new stove).

The toilet is littered with poop and the sink is all full with some having dried on the vanity door as it leaked from sink.

It's all fixable. the floor is bad in a few places... that wall in the kitchen must have had a leak for MANY years because the 2 "sistered" joists in the basement have sheared off where they meet the concrete foundation. can you imagine rotting and shearing off a 2x4 standing on the short end just by pure weight overtime?

It was in the summer and everything was dry, as the water table was very low that summer.