Once you have enough saved then buy another primary residence and live in that, fix it up.

If anything’s not up to code, you’ll need to fix it before they sign off.As for costs, you’ll have permit fees—those can range from a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars.

ABL, which is the basis for HML/fix and flip lending, will have different criteria and different focuses than multi-year loans based on cashflow and borrower credit score (long term mortgages).

Based on your real estate investment strategy, figure out who could be the best private money lender (PML) match.

The problem is that there isn't a lot out there, and when looked into each comp extensively, I saw the numbers were deflated because they were 'as-is' properties with extensive damage, or properties with a well, and other mis-matched differences.

If the latter, I would find 1 distressed property in a good-very good area and fix it up.

I just meant to say that it's our next goal to build that up, having just gone on a spending spree on fixing up both properties in a short period of time.

@Chris Mahoo many new investors don't take the time to properly understand RE investing.1) Many are using approaches from 2010-2018 when Class A property prices were so low from the Great RE Crash that an investor could cashflow and get pretty easy Class A tenants to manage.2) If you look at what investors were doing before 2008-2010, most were buying Class B & C rentals.To make it worth while, an investor either needs to Fix & Flip or invest & hold rentals for 10+ years.- Over a 10 year period cashflow will increase as rents increase (rents typically rise faster than property taxes, insurance, etc.)- The property should be appreciating, if purchased in a good location, increasing the owner's equity/wealth.- Rents will be paying the mortgage off, increasing the owner's equity/wealth.- If you hold a rental until death, you can pass it on with a stepped-up cost basis, limiting captial gains if then sold (limited by inheritance tax limitations).Too many newbies on this site trying to replace their day job income via "passive" real estate investing w/o digging deep enough to understand how it really works.

Background: I'm live in south Mississippi and have been doing real estate deals for about 13 years(rentals, STR, fix and flip...).

It’s still a worthy strategy to force cash flow that’s rare to find in SoCal, especially if you can reduce the cost of construction by doing a conversion/using an ADU grant or even buying a property with an existing ADU In general, even if the ADU valuation matches your cost including grants, they are usually not worth it in southern CA in single family zones.