@Agnes Lai I am no expert in this but my formula is school district, neighborhood, no flood plain and close to where I live, after narrowing the search to the criteria obviously numbers should make sense. 

I would love to do flips but I feel like the market here in LA is out of my time range with the amount of time it would take to market and find one.

South la is the only place to cash flow in la

Those moves will put them on notice you are for real and do your homework.However, not sure what LA is like now, but in my region things are off the charts so most of the good contractors and subs are swamped.

There are plenty of listing in Los Angeles, but LA is pretty big, so depending on the area, each market will differ and with that so will the demand and in turn the value the market says your home is worth.

all i could think of was the difference in 'cost of living' between Greensboro & LA.(i

It is very difficult to attend any meetings outside of Ventura County on weekdays due to my work schedule and then the traffic to get to LA.  I

Surely, at least one of those would be supremely motivated--so, no doubt they exist, but the critical question is whether one can get to them in an ecomically feasible manner (this mailing, for instance, would cost about $4 or $5 million; so if I were flipping a SFR in greater LA, I would lose millions on that deal, despite my conversion).  

Sounds like LA is trying to "force" you into accepting this tenant so they can get paid- don't do it. 

Lastly, since you are in LA I would like to invite you to come to one of our free educational seminars where we provide a wealth of information every time on various real estate investing topic from A-Z.