Be patient but always prospect and network. 

Math:- 4 bed, ~2000 sq ft, ~5000+ sq ft lot, good schools 6+, 1990+- 630-670k asking price- property tax 1.3-1.6%, mortgage 3.2%- after running some numbers, it gives me 3.3k-3.6k per month to own (mortgage, insurance, property tax, sometimes HOA, not counting utilities and maintenance) - rents in the area are closer to 3k tho, but everything goes within a week or two, so I bet if you are patient, you could rent it with cashflow (saw couple houses that went on Zillow for rent 3d after closing and were rented out with cashflow after 7d)So there is this upper limit of ~700k above which owning costs are way higher than avg rent (for same reason locations inside Bay do not make sense, I think).

Be patient, don't rush into something and buy a pig.

So, you could be patient and wait... or you could (potentially) overpay but who knows prices may just keep rising for a while because there is so much money chasing assets thanks to our govmnt policies.

A patient one that is proactive in answering your questions and has flexible loan products to fit your needs.

Check your state laws, but you will likely need to get your tenants out of the property during the remediation for their own health and safety.  

So you have a safety net if hell freezes over.

They won't even let me into the property citing safety.

That will create the paper trail for them.The City does need to assign addresses for fire and life safety, you should have been assigned an additional/new address in the "MIS-Addressing" review for the building before.

Unpaid rents prior to your purchase, if collected belong to the prior LL.If the tenant is getting basic services, heat, water, safety etc then you wait till the lease is up to start any renovating-or you do cash for keys or pay for their lodging while you are fixing the place.