kev, what would be your commute time to work from Santa Ana . . . or even Whittier or El Monte (LA County)? I saw two nice cosmetic fixer SFRs in Whittier similar to the listings I posted here in Buena Park on your thread a few years ago listed this past summer for the low $400’s. I haven’t checked to see if they sold. I saw a corner lot 1900sf single-story SFR in El Monte which sold short for ~$360K in June of this year, I think. The house appeared to be in pretty good shape inside and the lot was mostly concrete, as I recall.

You’re frustrated because you have been looking in the wrong (high-competition) cities which have had too many all-cash investors trolling around them for years who are 20+ years older than you and have 30+ years experience in the construction trades, their own flatbed trucks and a warehouse full of tools. That is your “competition.”