Whos's renting in the rust belt? Why doesnt everyone buy at those prices?

[Jonathan H.]

Hi guys,

I was just speaking to my brother via skype a few minutes ago.
He's in Australia.

I tell him Im planning on doing a road trip to Cleveland to check out some properties.

I explain to him that there are properties there going from 35K and up. He's going to be a RE agent in OZ and he just freaked out when I told him. He just could not believe how low the prices were.

So then he asks me: "Why do you want to buy there? Who's gonna rent from you if everyone can buy?"

My only answer was that I assumed people in the area had bad credit?
Then I realized how bad that generalization was. :oops:

But can someone explain this to me? I guess he had a valid point. I guess vacancies are higher in those areas but since you can purchase at such a low price, its still worth it.
Who is renting these properties?

thanks