As you all know, the LA market is sizzling hot with competition (an understatement!).

@Ujwal Velagapudi - The units themselves are separately metered for everything except water usage, however each unit has its own hot water heater.

I gave my $300,000 move-in ready beautiful vacant home to this large well known local co in Oct 2016.( Ive owned and self-managed another very similar rental in the same subdivision-- since 1998--and it has never had one day of vacancy in 16 years-- rented at $1860.)This professional pm co put all utilities in their name on my new property and turned the hot water heater ON and the Water ON ( even tho the main water cutoff valve is easily accessible in the coat closet beside the garage, the entire 3 months they 'managed it').They let the property sit VACANT OCT-NOVand on their "routine inspection on Dec 1, to make sure hobos had not moved in" they SAW the water heater in the garage was spewing (at full blast) A 20' stream/ fountain of HOT WATERand that the entire finished closed garage was covered COVERED !!

Reported items put the seller in an ethical hot spot should they choose to move on and not disclose the item(s) going forward.  

I know market is hot originally looking into some buy and hold rentals but would not be opposed to doing a flip.

@Kim Younkin according to the ASPCA:Approximately 37-47% of all households in the United States have a dog, and 30-37% have a cat.You could argue that less renters have pets or that pet owners are not good tenants, but at the end of the day at least a third of your potential renters will have a pet.

I was in a contract on a hud home once that was not winterized and the home was heated by hot water boiler.

I personally have not done wholesaling, I am a buy and hold investor, but as @Anthony Thompson and @Christian Allen said, there are several HOT areas right now in the greater Providence area.  

I've bought a SFH, invested ~30k into it with the major tasks done (swap out oil/steam with a Navien and forced hot water/BB and re-done kitchen).

The hot water tank had been tampered with and was spewing water all over the place.