My numbers above are based on the tax assessment, which isn't perfect but doesn't materially steer the scope of the conversation. 1/2 acre lots in prime areas are in the 400-600K range (maybe 1.5-3M on the water), many of these have 1930's houses on them that might appraise at $200K. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that skilled contractors should be spending more time on the job as John mentioned and not at Home Depot each looking for materials they should already have after doing a good assessment on the job scope.I don't necessarily suggest paying top dollar for extremely high end work in a low end area, I just don't think it is smart to go out of our way to underpay.

Hi @Robertto Rickards,Putting aside that if you want to wholesale, you need to find a way to find your own deals rather than going through an real estate agent and the fact that you should not base your assessments of properties on information you get from the person trying to sell you the property, here is some of the information you should look at:What do similar properties sell for?

They have calculators for you to assess profitability for flipping versus holding.  

You also need a bigger margin than normal because HOA's can often go up without your control and they also can do special (or year end) assessments and tack on more charges you are unprepared for.

Property Taxes: Your tax rate will probably be about 1% of assessed value so expect to pay a little more than $8,000 per year on an $800,000 house.

Also be aware of possible special assessments the HOA may impose due to capital expense projects.

Can you assess what a sale price would be in that market today?

Then assess how long it would take to recover the investment from the increased rents or if the property can then be refinanced for you to recover your investment.  

I am looking for "lesser" properties, which I define as being fairly assessed (note I said fairly) at $120,000 or below.