There are great areas(suburbs) which would attract more desirable tenants but of course cost more (duplexes and SFH starting around 130k up to millions) close to the water.

Right now I have picked up 37, so WELL short of my goal, but it's a heck of a lot better then if I would have made a goal of 10 right?!

You won't have a short term balloon either which gives you time to market the property and not get pressured in to taking a bad offer because you are up against a balloon.

I'd have to get material lists from each sub, have many of the lower bids eliminated because of that, then review the list, then push it over to you, then when their estimate is short go back to you, go back to them with your push-back, then figure out who will pay to finish the work.

hello BP familyMy name is Stefan Chirila and moved in California from Romania in 2011. happy to be here and finally taking  my first action and come on board.I am 32 years old, did sport at the highest level all my life, I am married and Civil Engineer, when I moved in US I started working as a labor for a small construction company(didn't have rights, and not shame about that), throughout time I learned the language and got my rights and equivalent my degrees and eventually started to work in construction management as an assistant Superintendent for a very big GC, everything is good happy with my job with my growth in US in a very short time, but always had in me the filling that I can do more then just working hard and make money for someone else, always dream about financial freedom, never actually took actions in that direction. 

Short sales, Reo and handy man special.

If in the worst case I break even then I would consider that much better than a short sale and ending up with bad credit.I know I am missing a few numbers in my original post, but I am not familiar enough with them to make approximations as you did.

Since I have not gotten into investing yet or have never been in real estate full time I am a little short on recommendations but I would like to help you.  

My objective is to buy and hold for the next 10 - 15 years (my timeline is short).  

Long story short, the dad passed away, the mom moved on, and my friend stayed awhile but had personal issues and had to move away.