It's amazing the city inspector let the prior owner keep the window.

@Kenneth Hynes I have done 100s and 100s and 100s of rehab for rentals, save the floors for when its time to sell to a new owner that may want to live in one of the units.

Bring me short sales and owners trying to avoid foreclosures, owners needing post occupancy….additionally please reach out to me if you’re holding notes in default you need off the books!!!!

There are LOTS of legal restrictions in California that you will need to be aware of if you are buying properties from owner occupants who are in foreclosure.Here is some reading to get you started (I have no affiliation with the company in the link): https://support.propertyradar.com/hc/en-us/article...Scott Williams

However when "House Hacking" you live in the property so you get to use "owner occupied" financing.

I know that down payment doesn't really add up to me because even the 5bd/3bth new constructions are going for ~615k, which even if he was putting 20% down as an owner occupant, that'd be something like $123k for a down payment...He wants a cash sale of the house to make this seamless.

I actually found this deal off market by emailing the owner.

Personally, I feel as though it was very lucrative back in the day, but it is much more difficult now to see a great return on a STR post-covid due to a saturation of people wanting to become STR owners, municipality restrictions, etc. 

Owner is saying expenses are about $10,000 per year.

Small businesses allow more discretion because the owner is a hands-on decision maker in the day to day operation.