This puts a strain on affordability for investors looking to buy and create income either through renting or fixing and flipping.

I don't believe Real Estate Investing is good for people that has financial strains of their own personally.

It's difficult to get bids from contractors if they don't know how much they need to trench and PG&E wants $1,500 to start the process.The whole purpose of wanting to upgrade my electrical panel is because I'm looking to build a detached ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) and all the contractors are telling me I need to upgrade my electrical panel (even though the county told me there wasn't a requirement to upgrade, only that it needed to be connected to the main house). 

Overleveraging: Have you ever taken on too much debt or overleveraged yourself, leading to financial strain or challenges with cash flow?

North Texas is indeed a promising region for investing in new construction without heavily straining your finances.

Also from the panel, I am just curious on where individuals are buying properties if you can not find them at 50 cent on the dollar.

@Nick RupcichReplacing the fuse box with a breaker panel is quite straight forward ... obviously have it done by a licensed electrician.I doubt very much that your 1960 built house has aluminium wiring - it was most prevalent in residential builds between 1965 and 1975.   

Plus it strained the relationship between the seller and tenant.

Those on the low end of the income spectrum in Bridgeport are strained further by the city's high cost of living.

This is putting some strain on an investor's ability to buy a property and use it 100% as a vacation rental.