Andrew,Another option would be to do part of the labor yourself for example tearing off the old roof on a house that small should be an easy one day job.

Wish it was that easy!

It's definitely not easy but you can certainly find some great rentals in the area. 

that should be easy there is only about 5 million of us brokers in CA.. :) good luck with it..

They are both retired, so not so easy for them to use Yelp and such. 

Their process is easy and you can get your HELOC within 2 weeks. 

How easy is it to produce $1000 in cash flow from 100k cash invested in real estate?

You may miss good deals while waiting, and more importantly, you will miss on making connections and getting a name out there for you as an investor that focuses on X or Y niches.However, you can definitively do something to take advantage of this market (high valuations and easy access to money) and your situation (low LTV and hopefully good cash flowing assets and personal financials) without having to deplete your cash reserves paying down loans or reducing your cash flow by getting me loans. 

When I consulted the lawyer, lawyer said the case might not be easy because I do not have a lease agreement with tenants.

Sounds like you're on the right track with your research, and I get how daunting the design aspect can be.If you were flipping houses, the design process is an easy fix and I would highly recommend an interior designer to take a look at your blank slate.