Those seem to draw multiple offers and create a bidding war.Flipping REOs is very difficult.

There are plenty of Cash-flowing markets in CA (contrary to popular belief), I'd would go back to the drawing board and look for a sub-market in Sacramento that can hit your objectives.

I believe the first step is to have an engineer come up with plans and drawings, but I'm hesitant to go that route ($4k) until I have a better sense of what my cost might be for the rehab to code.I agree with the other posts that the contractors bid is high.

We draw a "reasonable" salary from the one that generates the majority of the income and the rest in draws.

You can always have a lawyer draw something up quick too also regarding this matter.

Our son (he's not an architect but knows how to draw plans to code, and do site layout, plus drew a rendering) I took that, and made up a flyer on Postlets advertising the house to be built.

So the bank uses your money in a share account (drawing .75%) to secure a loan they make to you for 5%?

We couldn't justify paying more than that due to the limited information provided.Well back to the drawing board.

I found out from the neighbors that the house belongs to an old couple (70 yrs +) and I directed the letter in a very helping manner in order to draw a response.I used a Yellow Legal Pad with a blue magic marker, that I tucked in a very thin white envelope with the owners first name addressed on the front.

You're more likely to get a tele-marketing type than a mortgage underwriter on the phone at any large lending institution...back to the drawing board. ;)