CA is non-judicial for all but a tiny percentage of foreclosures.  

You may also want to find a local and trustworthy contractor to get your quotes and pay him for his services.I myself am a hands-on kind of person and since contractor quotes are all over the place sometimes, I need to know the costs of things myself such as materials and the quantities needed.

That avenue is preferred especially when dealing in smaller quantity of units.

I would like at the highest numbers first because the lowest are going to be a bunch of tiny/ unusable pieces of vacant land that nobody wants. 

Instead of Quality it seems like a philosophy of quantity...

Or how about that tiny home design contest Raleigh sponsored a year or so ago?

Then, since it is a live in flip, the utility costs you had which would have been elsewhere anyways along with the fact that you paid down a tiny amount of principle in year one is just extra gravy on the deal.

They say that cash flow somehow makes them magically immune to any downturn as if their tenants and their cash flow especially in lower end markets (where cash flow on paper looks the highest) will somehow be unaffected ... rent doesn't go down in a recession, it stops ... not all cash flow is created equal, and quality of cash flow in this case is more important than the quantity. 

I didn't read the other posts, but the 1% rule of thumb exists in 'reasonable quantity' for those who look (a little harder to see/find now compared to 5 years ago) in most of NC except the metro areas of Raleigh, Charlotte, Wilmington, and anomalies like Ashville and other lower population/high demand islands like coastal cities.

My tenant asked me today if I would replace the oven (gas stovetop) because it has a lot of tiny grease stains all over.