Because I’m looking for cash flow (a lot of that because I will be bankrolling a portion of the down payment with my HELOC, but also because of low appreciation for the area), I want to ideally see $200/mo per door.

Also, remember-- anything in writing can and will be use against you if it ever goes to court for whatever reason, so whenever I have correspondence with a tenant, I subconsciously think of a judge reading it!

The experience i gain will ideally coincide and strengthen my future buy-and-hold rental portfolio.

Remember you're in California and some people don't take a kind view of investors working with a homeowner in foreclosure.

I seem to remember an example Robert Kiyosaki gave (back in the early days of these exploratory seminars), was of a woman who used her credit card(s) to get a cash advance of $60K with deferred interest to go to trustee sale and purchase a property. 

In an ideal world, I would like to do a live in flip.

I'm confused.If the former, just refinance it into a long term loan, ideally a conventional loan.  

Remember the more units you acquire the more likely you are to cover your mortgage but at the same time you will also need to be able to qualify for these high ticket properties. 

@Stephen Lee tell me about it, I deal with bad wholesalers almost everyday!

@David Flores - AP247 has some tax delinquent data, but that's not really the most ideal use for the service.