Don't look for California cities on list of places with bargain homes By Cale Ottens June 7, 2013, 1:05 p.m. Looking for a cheap fixer-upper? You might check the list of the 15 best cities for do-it-yourself housing bargains, published this week by RealtyTrac, the Irvine-based real estate data firm. Shocker: No California cities made the list. The five best cities to find a bargain home are in the Rust Belt: Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis and Cincinnati. The rankings come from the number of bank-owned homes that were built before 1960 and are valued under $100,000. There are 3,773 such homes in Detroit, which is more than double Chicago's inventory, which is ranked just below the Michigan city. Phoenix is the closest city to Southern California that made the list and ranks No. 8 on the list with 763 such homes. Here's the full list: Detroit Chicago Cleveland St. Louis Cincinnati Philadelphia Milwaukee Phoenix Toledo, Ohio Birmingham, Ala. Dayton, Ohio Columbus, Ohio