Gosh, i guess i must get an attorney.If you've already talked to the builder and they refused to let you out of the rest of the 10k (the 3k may be impossible to justify recovery for) then i'd probably do a consult with an attorney on the contract and your situation.  

I've been an athlete my entire life (played football through college and am now a nationally competitive Olympic Weightlifter) and I bring the same tenacity to Real Estate as I do in my athletic endeavors. 

It wouldn't be a cash flow play, it would be almost entirely based on appreciation over the next 10-20 years (since the next 10 years will likely have both a correction and some recovery, meaning your major appreciation gains probably won't come around until after then, though you may have a healthy little bit of appreciation in the next 1-3 years, which is my belief for how much we have left in SoCal of this seller's market.)

If you could get recovery money back from pursuing a judgement, then go ahead.  

Having said that, I believe you buy in times of distress and ride the recovery.  

Sale or creation of security interest in personal property subject to security interest or lien without informing purchaser or secured party.......shall be deemed to have made a false representation and shall, where no other punishment is prescribed, be punished as for a gross misdemeanor. or recovery of any loss tru obtaining property by false pretenses!!!" 

(Tuition for the school of hard knocks)  Today it's a top producer tho after re-fi's, 3 PMs, and some market recovery. don't buy based on what you can afford.  

It will be a long road to recovery but you will get there as I have.

It leads me to think they must have been in alcohol/addiction recovery and gone through a nasty relapse or something like that, to go from normal tenants for 6 years to destroying everything and not caring

@Andrew Wong  what I mean is some of the real estate given where insurance cost could rise too.. and recovery efforts or rebuild cost.. simply are not financially viable and the real estate has negative value.