CA maybe as high with their EIR requirements that cost 250k to 500k just for the EIR reports.

All the leads I've found so far have balked at either the "investment property" requirement, the "in California" requirement (or both!)

Also your permitting process, type or land, grade of land, if underpinning is required will all play a factor into your cost. 

There is nothing about how long you need to occupy the property for.So unless our lender puts a demand on us I see no problems legally in occupying each property for any amount of time to fulfill the requirement, then rinse and repeating this process up to our full entitlements, so long as the lender is willing to keep giving us loans.

The repair was extensive and costly, requiring excavation (about 3x6 feet) to replace the broken section and clean up the mess.

And I believe they require 30-40% down. 

I especially liked Matt's process of creating my business plan as it forced me to really think about it, get it right and make it easily understood by my clients.His process for the offering also made me think about transparency and other ethical issues that are required by law to be disclosed in the offering.

Anything single family will require very creative strategies in order to generate cashflow. 

I am considering getting into this space (looking at some courses), but worried that its too late, and that deep local market knowledge/understanding of buyers/connection with developers etc is required to make this work, which only incumbent/long term investors will have and would be hard for a new entrant starting from scratch to catch-up...is my hypothesis valid in your opinion ?

Financing Your First Flip with Low CashHard Money Loans (HML): Covers most costs but requires 10-20% down, with 10-12% interest.