I would imagine a few years ago during the downturn and first few years of recovery it was probably possible, but is it still?

Imagine trying to do your job  with baseball to focus and this takes you off track.The ability to make money with baseball far outweighs minimal cash flow from dumpy to average properties.A lot of high net worth investors invest in commercial real estate as it is more passive but takes more money to invest.If you have 500k to invest to 1 million or more you have options for commercial.

They also love to flush baby wipes and pour their grease down the kitchen sink.   

So I  would imagine that there is a substance that's smelly, and at least slightly damp.

I'm more familiar with the Southern California market, but I would imagine that getting a house to cash flow with 20% down is tough throughout the state.

The soil might be weak or soft and the footings might have been poured without addressing that. 

There are some alternatives such as brick veneer or brick facing, which would not require a footer to be poured first. http://www.masonryplanet.com/veneers-brick.htmhttp://www.house-design-coffee.com/brick-veneer.ht...http://www.homewyse.com/services/cost_to_install_b...http://www.homewyse.com/services/cost_to_install_b...

Congress can barely approve bills for naming post offices at this point and it is hard to imagine this suddenly changing in the near term.

Which I would imagine would be much cheaper than custom cabinets.

Imagine what I could have been doing with $500/month for 9 years!!!