It cracks me up every time I show up at a real estate auction, and everyone else is dressed in suits, driving high end brand new vehicles they really cant afford, and I roll up in my 12 year old SUV, wearing shorts, a hoodie and ball cap... then I say F*** You by buying the property for cash and walking off. 

If I were you, I'd low ball them if you really want it..have your max number and do not go beyond that...well worth giving it a try.

Also kind of ball park curious about the cost of renovating a 1000 sq ft home for rent in Richmond California.

You would have to low ball both of these properties work for you.

Spit-balling it, I estimate I would spend (at most) $5,000 per unit.

There are a lot of great blog posts on this and here are just a few: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2011/04/0...https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2012/12/1...https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/05/1...I'll start the ball rolling: I use the very unscientific metric of three months of expenses and what the two most expensive repairs on the property would cost.

I find folks like to talk about themselves in general so asking some basic questions that require more than a "yes or no" response opens the conversation and those thoughtful few questions get the ball rolling.

Here's my current target, I have a contract on it until Monday: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7R6k93WIBwYZnZCW...The seller had the property at 285k, no one would touch it except for a low ball investor (good try, whomever on here did that).

I'm not here to waste anyone's time, and I have a potential deal in Greensboro so I'd need to get the ball rolling soon.

Once you get the ball rolling, its self-maintaining.