It costs so much to sell a property and buy another one, and is such a hassle, that if I were in this situation I'd strongly consider just paying the special assessment and keeping a property that's otherwise great.

If you skip using a new loan, you avoid the costs of origination and high interest rates, It works well for our clients in Phoenix and in CA. 

In reality, "cash flow" areas to me are high turn over, higher turnover cost, and higher Capex, which all equates to the more risk for less return.  

Also a seller concession is a good tool to reduce closing costs and carrying more than necessary on the primary. 

Your gain / income on the sale would beSales price less cost to purchase the lane, less the cost to build the property, less improvements less costs to sell plus the depreciation taken on the property.Whether the gain is ordinary or capital will depend on whether you are classified as a dealer.

Keep in mind, taxes and insurance costs in California are higher than a lot of areas.

I have personally not worked on any of these but it does not seem to be anything too crazy.It's an FHA Loan that can be combined with other FHA products like a 203k.I am a Loan Officer for "Correspondent Lender" so I can operate under the rules of over 100 lenders...I would be able to place this in a few hours with 1 email...We would just have to make sure all the boxes are checked...Energy Efficient Improvements Must Be Cost-EffectiveThe financed portion of an Energy Package must be cost-effective.

One area that has caught my attention is the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg TN area - seems like there is a good rental income to acquisition cost ratio.  

@Yu Xiao, using that property as a short term rental during the time you own it will open up some additional tax saving potential as will doing a cost segregation study to take advantage of some accelerated depreciation.  

so - what are the ages of those items, how much will they cost to replace, and how long will they last?