Just some basic information would be amazing to have, like inventory, average days on market, etc.

Don't go out of your comfort zone just to get a good deal, most auctions are basically site unseen sales with no contingency period, the less you buy in this way the less successes you have to offset a potential loss. 

Hello,I received a letter from the county or city (I'll have to double check) stating that the assessed property value has gone up by 30K. 

It's impossible to hold schedules in CA anymore unless it's very basic.

My long term real estate goals are basically two fold; to grow into full-time construction and use those resources to obtain long term cash flow for retirement. 

Also providing basics like coffee, tea and water really help with perceived value thus you can charge a little extra as not all places offer that.

Basically just as everyone here so far has mentioned.

We voted down a special assessment of $2,500 for painting back in October and a $100 increase in dues for painting in December, but the board has just sent notice of another meeting to be held in March for a vote of a $2,350 special assessment. 

That’s basically a new city every year and the infrastructure to support it.

I feel like this should be a basic question but it's hard to find a definitive answer to.We'll be splitting the cost, labor and profit 50/50 but have no entity setup at this point.1.