Scratching my head and looking for guidance. 

Just a heads-up.

If the property isn’t renovated, then wholesaling might be the route for you; however, most investors who purchase wholesale deals will want a substantial margin on their flips.. e.g. 15-20k below renovated market value doesn’t offer much room for end-buyers profit.Hope this helps!

(Maybe the text books will have something like this above....so they are probably a good read... but don't expect them to give you HOW to figure that out--just a heads up on it--and then just maybe).And lien releases are very important--they differ by state....you will need to learn something about that too...as well as thousands of other things.Good Luck!

There would not be any short term cashflow rental income since I would be living there, but investors would participate in future appreciation after renovation at the time of a future sale (or future cash out refinance if I stayed in the property) as that upside could be substantial. 

Are we heading towards a crash?

I purchased my first investment home a little over 2 years ago for 37k that I have put substantial work into (all new electric, all new HVAC, plumbing etc).

Not only that - without getting too political - given the direction(s) CA is heading, I think we may need to consider other AZ options if this ends up being more long-term than originally planned.

It seems like your head is in the right place and is potentially a good deal (not financial advice).

For those that might holler about liability protection:  we have kept them leveraged with cash-outs, have a substantial umbrella policy in place, and very simply we just make sure we keep the properties maintained and are good operators with happy residents.We are now transitioning into a more commercial space and plan to roll out that LLC structure.