If you purchased from the party who purchased at the tax sale you probably would have received a SWD because the Grantor would not have wanted to warrant anything other than the Grantor's actions.While I'd be surprised if a county employee opined on the status of your title, there may be a difference between having a clear title (one without a current challenge) and insurable title (one free of significant possible risk of being challenge in the future). 

Will,That's a question that involves a lot of detail and conversation to map out the LLC, Financing, Grants, and percentage of partnership should you decide to acquire more than 5-10 properties.Feel free to reach out if you want to discuss the scenario and I can try and detail some tips from my experience. 

I will continue to invest in California because of the high appreciation and high rental income.I hope this helps and if you have any questions on how or where to find some deals, feel free to reach out!

So you get 57% of $400k tax free and pay tax on $172k. 

If you are need of a good reliable contractor please feel free to reach out to me.

If you have any questions feel free to send me a DM. 

One thing that wasn't mentioned is that the road leading to many of the homes often floods making a good portion of the rental homes inaccessible during storms & also resulting in early evacuation due to storm threats. 

This can provide you with more leads for less money.

@Brett Dudley the inspector for any buyer should catch the roof needs replacing and any other major issues, which should lead to the buyer renegotiating/lowering their offer price to cover these.

Yetwe get more leads in a day most people get in 2 months!!