The home is in semi-rough shape... liveable (barely), but certainly not rentable. 

Quote from @Luis Pereiro: Quote from @Jay Hinrichs: what position that's an important factor.. bare land notes generally sell for a 20 to 30% yield. 

You at the bare minimum need to have all the standard amenities, and going above and beyond trying for unique usually pays off as well.

They are actively participating and easy to reach. 

I am barely looking at them because with my underwriting (that some would consider conservative), even properties below retail bleed cash.  

I personally do not own any rentals here in orange county but we do have clients in that live in orange county and many of them have to go out into riverside county or San Bernardino county to be able to cash flow and just barely nothing crazy.

If they had not found the deal or participated at all, you would not owe them anything since it was off-market and they didn't play a role. 

Typically, you’ll need to use an online listing service, where you can either participate in a free trial or pay a fee to view listings.

Do you want to participate ?

I have close to 100 doors, thus I will pick up something even if it is barely cash flowing so that my other cash flowing assets can pay down the mortgage reasonably quick.