If you don't want to spend the money on an attorney there's always the option of small claims court (called Magistrate's Court, here in SC).  

You could certainly document serious costs and try to recover in small claims court, but outside of that you really just needed to be sure that your monthly expenses were low enough that you could afford to make repairs as needed.

If I were you, I would listen to the podcasts that are geared towards flipping and see what works best for you and also what kind of properties you want to get into (single family, duplex-fourplexe, apartment complexes, commercial) and also what area of the market you want to work (low, mid, or high).If you are a reader there are quite a few books available through here, J Scott wrote a few and there is the Ultimate Beginners Guide.Hope this helps

I am currently flipping homes in Orange County and just purchased a home at the court house steps.  

In general, the MLS requires that you be a Realtor (additional fee for membership in addition to being a licensed real estate agent), though there may be one federal court district where this isn't the case.  

The question I have is there is about 17K against the owners in the civil and small claims courts, 15 K to a bank (Discover), 2k to a local business and 300 to a local business. 

It could cashflow if I added a bedroom in the basement.I'm a fairly conservative investor: a minimum of 20% COC, 2% rule, with a good buy and/or multiple exit strategies.I actually discovered BiggerPockets because I ran into issues purchasing my first two condos - I could not get the bank to finance the second condo because there was too many rentals within he complex. 1) Condo (1/1) - purchased w/ 5% down as an owner occupied property (one of my best properties)2) Condo (2/2) - got denied so I got creative and used the checks that credit cards sent you (25k) from three different cards, begged friends, and had about 15k in my bank.

I also do consulting.I help owners of real estate with creative real estate solutions that solve common, but complex, real estate problems.

Have been scouring around for quite a while to find a good deal out in California, and I recently came upon a small apartment complex that is being sold in an estate sale.  

I would be hesitant to use an estimate because fees can be as low as the $200 range in some of the older complexes all the way up to over $600 a month in some of the newer complexes.