The place was very well-kept by a previous owner, but everyone's telling me Torrance, CA is a terrible area and that the housing market is supposed to crash soon.

Some are great, some are absolutely terrible.

Had a terrible tenant for a year that finally moved out.

Yes, as a flip this is pretty terrible.

They're terrible, actually.  

Personally I would replace in this order with more changes for higher end markets-1) Replace the old fluorescent kitchen light that screams early 90s that makes everything look terrible and pop in a few recessed LEDs.  

The good news is, even strict HOAs aren't terrible, just annoying.

If you haven't read it, here it goes.https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/456...So, the terribly low 220k appraisal that the buyer did which should have been at least 230k finally has some answers, or maybe more questions than answers.So after we got the bad appraisal we contested it.

I found a job in route sales that earned me more money than I was used to, but it was a terrible job with a capital F.

The last guy did a terrible job and sealed off all the ventilation to the crawlspace.