@Lucas Mills, I agree with your assessment that "a house for 7k (that needed about 30k-40k of work) still wasn't all that great when analyzed (would only rent for about $500-$550)".

On your expense projections that is HOA fees and when the HOA will raise them, or when they'll levy an unexpected special assessment, or if they'll vote to amend the rules and restrict or ban your right to rent your condo...

I know it doesn't seem sustainable but every listing I find remotely interesting has dozens of offers. 

Due to Prop 13 in CA, assessed values can be way off from market value, however most counties will show you on the tax records how much the land is as a percentage of the total value. 

If you don't have money and aren't a skilled executor, you can go Drive for Dollars, doorknock run-down homes, pull mailing lists and mail the owners, and do at least a dozen different things to find a potential deal. 

@Tyler Rosenstein  Rentometer has been pretty spot on when I've used it to assess market rental rates. 

And I can break that down to specific neighborhoods with details of houses, price, size, amenities, # of bedrooms, assessed values, original morgage balances and rate, how long the owner lived there, when it was purchased last. 

However, doing leasing for years, and doing dozens of Section 8 leases, you really do start to feel for the tenants and understand that many of them are in bad spots and are desperate for housing.  

Very useful to be able to  private message with others on this site, I've messaged with literally dozens of people on this site for more in-depth questions and answers, networking and even met quite a few in person for coffee. 

The city taxes are the highest in the area, including ROC burbs (Just surpassed $47+ per 1k assessed.)