This usually doesn't happen here any more with banks since there is such competition here at this time (but we found extensive damage that was hidden such as the roof having three layers of roofing, the bottom which was cedar shake with ZERO sheeting at all).Pre-purchase: 2bed/1bath 800 sqft finished living space with an unfinished 720sqft basementAfter Rehab: 3bed/2bath 1520 sqft finished living spaceRehab consisted of: demo, re-wire entire house, move electrical panel and update, roof, siding, hardwoods installed, build new bath in basement, add master bedroom in basement, add washer dryer closet in basement, remove upstairs wall and add beams, remove addition in back and rebuild deck, fencing, landscaping, EVERYTHING, you get the idea.This house did take a full month longer for rehab then anticipated, but it all worked out in the end.The Bad: Budgeted 75k for rehab, ended up 88k, anticipated 60day rehab, took 90days, termites, no HVAC where we thought, Water heater was leased so it got removed after buying it (didn't know that), had to fire a contractor and have others fix his bad work, bath tubs were lain incorrectly and was not discovered until we were ready for tile...The Good: House turned out WAY better than thought, the additional time for rehab gave time for neighborhood market to increase as well, low inventory at time of listing, sold in 4 days.Numbers:  Purchase: $165k (CASH)Rehab: $88kHolding costs: roughly $2500All selling/closing/realtor/staging/misc: $35kSelling Price: $369,000 with no concessionsNet Profit roughly:  $82,556

I've built several businesses (Chicago + LA) in male-dominated fields, so RE doesn't feel that different.

It’s very true in LA.

@Lynn Milos I imagine you have some rough areas in LA?! 

Next year I am looking at possibly doing Rod in LA in Jan. 

It's always great hearing motivational comments from veteran real estate professionals.I'm totally bummed to hear about all of California being on the same boat as LA in terms of hard to turn a profit.

One of our STR is in Big Bear Lake and we had to bring our own crew all the way from LA. 

We will be in LA in about 2 weeks.