If you are early in the project, you can often scale down other parts of the renovation to cover the cost, i.e. that terrazzo tile that would have been perfect is no longer in the budget.  

I've yet to see the perfect sewer line, even on new construction.

I got a feeling that life as a Private-$ Investor may be a great place to start, and these properties lend a perfect means to testing that out, solving 2 issues in 1 action, because you can JV your way out of the operational side of things AND retain that long term financial upside. 

Easy answer is no CRM is perfect @Brandon Spaulding.   

Forget about being perfect, because let's be real, perfection is overrated.

This is the perfect place to learn about real estate investing. 

We have perfect feedback and Premier Host, and allow Instant book, but do not have a liberal cancellation policy and have some rules in place (4 day minimums, for example) and are not fighting the cheapo battle, and we tend to get somewhat buried in the search rankings.One of the things that really burns my *** about VRBO is that they allow the property owner to self select the type of property that it is rather than forcing it into where it belongs.

There will be no perfect market at a perfect time, EVER.

I will definitely reach out to you in next few weeks as, in a perfect world, it would be nice to have the investment properties within an hour or two drive (Sacramento is one option I want to look into and will also consider some of the other cities you mentioned) of the South Bay Area where I live.

What is your "perfect scenario" -- appreciate it!