I have already sold by owner and am well aware of 1031.

Honestly I was not aware of this group! 

.: Some of the advice above is not well thought out or not aware of the rules in CA.  

I also wasn't aware of househacking really, not sure if I can do it in that neighborhood, but I'll do my research.As for making a cash flow, looks like it'll be a slim profit?

What are some things to be aware of doing tax liens?

I'm aware of them all.

We have zip codes that have lower and and higher end areas within the same zip so not a good marker to use.Going along with that a lot of the neighborhoods are very street by street or change pretty quickly by block, so you have to be aware of that.

@Jay Fayz for SFR (1-4 family) Classifications are mostly opinion-based.Not aware of anyone tracking eviction rates, except Evictions Lab nonprofit that doesn't like landlords.Here's some info that might helpt:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

It sounds like the Title Co. was not aware that the tenant prepaid rent and just prorated the current rent for the month of closing, so agree if they had no knowledge of it, would not have ever gone on the settlement statement as a credit to the buyer and they likely will not do anything post closing to help obtain those funds. 

House-hacking in a multi-family unit is one strategy I wish I had been aware of when I chose to purchase my first property.