$3600 if we include utilities with a Section 8 Tenant. what is your current escrow shortage? 

., Given the current housing shortage, this is not surprising.One should probably consider the feasibility of bidding within the parameters you cited, doing a minimal "lipstick on a pig" fix, and holding for rental income.

I look forward to continuing to learn from the BiggerPockets community as I navigate my real estate investing journey.I’ve had some success on the eastern shore of Maryland, though even that market has started to frankly become expensive, there are still pockets of potential growth both rent & appreciation, thoigh it’s becoming harder to find, also there is a massive rental shortage out there, a county I just put a property contract on, literally has 3 properties for rent right now, but it does make rental comps quite difficult, outside of that I’ve started looking a little more into western Md and some southern pa markets but still trying to get a feel for them, overall I think in this market places that are affordableish and have some draw will do well with the continued wfh + affordability crisis but keep in mind while I think the eastern shore is actually fairly safe market for the most part a lot of rural areas definitely have boom bust potential and in theory more risk than dc metro, though the low price points do by definition tend to mitigate some of those risks. 

To do this, he is currently living out of his car and subletting his BR at a significant profit (UCSB has severe student housing shortage).  

This discovery took place at the same time a hurricane struck so to me it was a nightmare to fix some of the damages it caused, amidst a shortage of labor, fortunately another investor friend helped out.

They bought a cheap duplex in Milwaukee, fixed it up nice and can't get a tenant even though we have a rental shortage.

Between the 2 I'd pick contractor, because its running a business and there's a shortage in CA.

Surrounded by mountains in a valley that naturally constricts growth there will continue to be a shortage of housing.

Most of the established builders usually have no shortage of land to build on, which they have most likely purchased below market value.

We have a housing shortage, Milwaukee is the second worst (competitive) rental market for tenants behind Miami, FL.