@Andrew Helen, sounds like you found a gem of your own in So Cal! 

Many of these have vintage loans underwritten in boom times of 2006,2007 etc.

Craigslist has been very good to me over the years but you have to sift through a bunch of flakes to find the gems.

This property has a 14.5% COC and it's almost next door to Vintage Park an upcomming area in Northwest Houston with good appreciation potential.

In a 1930s vintage home around here, I would also be checking for asbestos in plaster (though it may be old enough to predate that practice) and any floor and/or ceiling tiles.We would also assume no insulation behind the lath-and-plaster unless it was added later (around here that often means UFFI in the 70s, which is another host of problems).

There are two conventional gems of wisdom that I use to guide my decisions. 

If the schools performed better it would be a gem.

Some countries the investors pay 10 to 12% interest to have loans there and they are amazed the interest rates and pricing they can get here on commercial assets.I would say buying houses over here can be a challenge because yes you can spread assets out but that can be a bad thing as well.10 sets of roofs, a/c's, different vintage build of houses, varying PM companies to control as they likely to do not manage different areas etc.

Leave those gems for Jassem.  

Maybe you found a gem of an area to invest in or maybe not.