Seriously, I am really 'Biting the Bullet' right now, how "Little Knowledge can be TOO Dangerous"...

Simply following the crowd as many do and relying on the market to drive prices up, with little or no knowledge of how it is happening, what is driving it, is very dangerous indeed for a anyone in this business.

Specifically safety. molten asphalt is dangerous, and the way you melt it can also potentially burn down your structure. 

Having ideas in finance can be plain dangerous. 

well I'm in the military and although I get paid well and the benefits are great, I'm in a pretty dangerous job.

Guam is in danger of capsizing!?!

These people ARE DANGEROUS and you are certainly in danger, whatever you do.

@Matthew, valid points although for purposes of this discussion , I think its safe to assume (yes...I know the danger in that) we are talking about California non judicial foreclosures which will always be a trustee sale and will not involve the courts in any way.

For the most part you simply cannot do this legally, and there are very few exceptions in situations where there are dangerous or unsanitary conditions that the landlord fails to fix.

Ask the seller to refinance the property with a one time assumption agreement with the lender - assume the loan - seller gets his cash and you get a nothing down deal.Hard money is OK (but dangerous and expensive) and so is creative financing - you'll know what is best, every deal is different - now go play the real estate game and have fund while learning and profiting - always make full disclosures and don't be greedy ---!