Another great prep strategy is to have the building pre qualified with a local or experienced lender for potential buyers to connect with and or they could entertain a full or portion seller carry back if they want to maintain some income.

Moving to a place with more people might give you more chances to grow, but it could also mean higher costs and more traffic.

You won't find multifamily properties and the houses are generally smaller (which is great for lower maintenance cost).  

Estimating costs comes easier with experience and working with the same people multiple times.

These have the potential to earn a lot of money very quickly. 

Two contributing factors are high construction costs and regulations that make obtaining a construction permit difficult.California already has a large housing shortage.

Maybe in the future, you can specify a monthly cost for the electrical utilities based on the previous years averages.  

California offers equity building, potential appreciation, and stability, but high entry costs and market volatility are downsides.

Could we deduct most of the 100k from tax and potentially get profit from the sale?

The town home would cash flow ~$200 after expenses (and is near new/low risk of large capital costs).