Assets in LA is expensive for a reason and cheap elsewhere for a reason. 

You can get a cheap twin pack of locksets for around $35 at Lowes or Home Depot.  

That, or the fact we didn't buy a house down the street, it ended up going cheap and we could have been the ones to profit!    

If you want carpet, go with a super cheap frieze and get a good quality pad with a moisture barrier (8lb pad).

But this is why we have state and city govmit.. if they want to subsidize housing they have mechinisims to do that.I have worked with many of these Habit  and others.. issue comes in PDX is building costs are so high now there Is no way you can build low income housing unless govmit writes super cheap interest rate bonds  forgives System development charges etc etc.. and this area does that.

Filters are cheap and that will give you a chance to look around. 

I open to many options as long as the interests rates are low and closing cost are cheap

It's not all that cheap here anymore either.  

If I was 25 years younger you could call me neighbor I would move there in a heart beat as bigger cities go its a great city to work in.. permits dead cheap.. quick and you pretty much know where you stand once you know the rules. those 7 lots I did on Oak and Buist I got them subdivided in a matter of 100 days or so.. that would have been 2 years and 50k in my market here in Portlandia.

I wonder whether it is possible for me to buy a mobile home with cheap price, install that and sell it as a regular house ($110-$150K).