I've read that there's a lot of traffic on the bridges downtown, so we'll keep that in mind.My wife is a RN, and will be looking for a job at a hospital in Austin when we get there.

If I come across that bridge, Ill follow procedure.

But it still uses Zillow, so my favorite Zillow shortcoming - the house just across the river is a comp even though the nearest bridge is over a mile away - is still going to happen with this site.

Marie Poe's point, the "deal" would be too thin if this was a sticking point, so I get that completely.Thinking about this a bit further, say I take over the seller's mortgage and give them consideration of 50k to bridge the difference between loan balance and "purchase price"... when I go to sell the home and have to repay the loan, would it not be taxed at that time?

Has anybody tried Angel Oak Prime Bridge out of Atlanta, GA for a loan to do a Rehab project?

Many people advocate jumping off the bridge now and you will figure it out when you hit the bottom.As a new investor do not let the money burn a hole in your pocket.  

BTW I have been to Hermon  It's a cute little historic area with a lot of craftsman houses... these 1900-1920s houses often have a lot of foundation issues and the majority of the time require/recommend an earthquake retrofit for sale ($3500-6,000)There's a cute park there on the Hermon park border that you walk under a bridge to get to.  

I would look into going East across one of the bridges (Newark/ Fremont/ Union City/ Hayward areas).  

@Jeff Bridges and @Russell Brazil thank you for informing me of some of the problems I can expect to encounter at the price point that I was originally considering.

You can also get bridge or gap funding if you do not have enough cash, and also for any repairs or upgrades in order to add value to the property.