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Is buying a fixer and having to do home reno a bad idea?
honestly the thing i'd check before anything else is the california property tax angle with prop 13. if you buy at 750k your assessed value is locked low and only creeps up 2% a year, so a fixer you hold for 20 yrs ends up way cheaper tax-wise than the same house bought turnkey later. that's a real argument your family probably isnt counting.
but the flip side is insurance. a 1920s spanish place with old knob and tube and a cracked foundation is gonna get quoted stupid high right now, or the carrier just walks. get a quote before you're in escrow, that number has killed more deals lately than the reno budget itself.
fwiw i'd lean multi in your spot. sfr fixer in la means you're paying to live in a job site with no income offset. duplex you rent one side, the tenant's rent covers a chunk of the mortgage while you slowly fix your unit. way less painful.
on the money side, banks get weird about fixers in la. if the house wont appraise because of condition, your lender can pull the loan or force a higher down, and fha/va basically wont touch anything with peeling paint or a bad roof. so ask your lender upfront about a 203k or a conventional reno loan vs just buying as is and paying cash for work. also a $750k sfr in la proper is mostly going to be in areas like west adams, vermont knolls, or deep in the valley, so check what the block actually looks like at 9pm before you commit to forever
Foundation work on an old Spanish place in LA is the part I'd price out first, before you fall any harder for it. A full foundation job on a 1920s bungalow can run $40k to $100k+ depending on whether it's a partial or full replacement, and the city will often want engineering reports and permits that drag on for months. The kitchen, electrical and plumbing are annoying but predictable; foundation is the one that can turn a $750k house into an $850k house before you've picked a faucet.
Also, if your partner's stock vests once a year, you'll be doing this in phases, which sounds smart until you're living in a construction zone for three or four years. I've watched friends do exactly that in Highland Park and Eagle Rock and it worked, but the ones who came out ahead bought the worst house on a good block and kept the reno scope tight. A "charming forever home" that needs everything is a different animal. Get a structural engineer's opinion before you get emotionally attached.
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How can I find mobile hot dog vendors for a private event?
honestly the SGV has a ton of licensed cart operators who mostly do private stuff now. look up "hot dog cart catering San Gabriel Valley" on Yelp and you'll get a handful that are fully permitted, which matters if your venue needs a health permit on file. expect around $400 to $700 for a few hours plus a per person minimum, usually 50 or so. the ones based in Alhambra and Rosemead tend to be cheaper than Pasadena because they're not paying that rent.
fwiw the county health dept keeps a public list of permitted mobile food operators, its searchable by city on the LA County Public Health site. filter for "pushcart" or "MFF" and you'll get vendors cleared for SGV zip codes, which saves you the headache of a venue asking for paperwork later. also worth checking with the Old Town Monrovia or Alhambra farmers market folks, the carts there are usually booked solid but they know who's free and they'll pass along names. just dont wait till the last week, good ones book out 2 to 3 weeks in teh summer.
You could try hitting up the folks who set up outside Home Depot or the DMV in El Monte on weekends, a lot of those carts are owner operated and they'll do private gigs if you ask. Just walk up and grab a card, they usually have one taped to the cart.