Enough immediate cashflow to balance out the mortgage, taxes and insurance.

It seems every market goes through a cycle -- unnoticed potential; early titillation as the potential becomes known; flood gates open and gold rush is on; property prices rise, revenues drop, regulations come in; and finally balance is found.

Even if you do find such a deal, getting it to cash flow after repairs and a cash-out refinance is extremely difficult, especially for single-family homes.

The question is mostly a personal financial planning question and it depends on your preference and what balance of risk and access you'd like and would be comfortable with.

What checks and balances would you need to put in place to avoid this.I am a firm believer that you should tie any bonus to a metric that the company is trying to achieve.

Bryan: California is a difficult place to learn, because everything is so pricy.  

And the Solo-K would enable you to borrow $50K from the retirement balance to use as you please.

Instead of a traditional down payment, I would give them some money (maybe just to bring the loan back to even).The upside if taken over the loan at the current balance, with some rehab and hopefully getting the front lot back would be a nice ROI. 

Any tips on balancing renovation costs with tenant expectations when preparing a property for midterm stays?

It's difficult to see how a tenant will be after screened and signing a lease.