I live in SF Bay Area and mostly invest OOS but I do own as property in Ridgecrest so I always drive through Bakersfield.

@Sean Quinlan   Start with the basics sir....Get pre-approved with a lender, first.     

If you use a rehab lender and they are fine with a drive by appraisal, you can maybe get it done. 

Basically finding a prototype to perhaps manufacture.  

Hi Nina,Since you're just getting your feet wet, I'd suggest reading some books and listening to the podcasts in order to get the basics down.

The bank should provide some guidelines on that.All parties (contractor, bank, and homeowner) should draft the scope of work to be performed in as much detail as possible (example this type of carpet, this type of doors, etc.)Once the scope is agreed upon, the contractor is to provide you an estimate and a schedule (consider using a guaranteed maximum price type contract, this basically holds the GC to a ceiling). 

It is work for single family and small multifamily, too but the volume is so different that "driving for dollars" and various online searches as discussed many times in BP and elsewhere work really well for mailings or phone calls. 

Learning the basic, from there i will find my niche.  

I have a meeting with a seller this Saturday that I found driving 4 dollars (D4$).

Basically, if it was ever owner occupied it must remain zoned that way.