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I have clients that scan the listings multiple times per day looking for a fixer-upper they can tie up with a downpayment of $50k or less.
When they find one they pull my string to get a plat that they can use to get a building permit ASAP.
The pickings are getting very thin. The stock is just not out there anymore. I used to do about three of them a week 10 years ago; now its more like one every other week, if that much.
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You stated;
You cant buy any house that cheap (500k) in northern CA, even in San Pablo.
There are thousands of homes in N.CA listed for far less than 500K. That's a fact.☺