Really high rental yields for cheaper housing - what's the catch?

[Rahul Bhandari]

I'm looking at some data to identify the best areas to buy and hold. I'm less familiar with buying in some of these areas - so I thought I'd reach out. These zipcodes offer really high rental yields even accounting for the vacancy stats. I'm wondering what's the catch?

Zip	City	State	Median Home Price ($)	Average Rent ($)	Gross rental yied	2013 Rental vacancy rate by Zip (%)
13165	Town of Waterloo	NY	79,100	1,365	20.7%	6.7
13411	Pittsfield	NY	76,400	1,424	22.4%	7.4
14125	Town of Oakfield	NY	87,500	1,400	19.2%	4
14437	Dansville	NY	81,300	1,416	20.9%	3.7
14445	East Rochester	NY	95,800	1,289	16.1%	1.4
14510	Mount Morris	NY	72,600	1,399	23.1%	4.1
14517	Town of Nunda	NY	78,100	1,441	22.1%	7.5
14605	Rochester	NY	40,900	828	24.3%	3.6
14608	Rochester	NY	51,100	866	20.3%	6.3
14611	Rochester	NY	47,400	855	21.6%	4
14621	Rochester	NY	44,700	848	22.8%	5.4
14715	Town of Bolivar	NY	47,400	1,401	35.5%	4.6
14727	Town of Cuba	NY	69,800	1,456	25.0%	4.7
14735	Granger	NY	57,800	1,402	29.1%	5.9
14739	Town of Friendship	NY	46,300	1,395	36.2%	6.5
14806	Town of Andover	NY	49,000	1,402	34.3%	5.1
14813	Amity	NY	55,100	1,433	31.2%	4.2
14891	Watkins Glen	NY	106,800	1,449	16.3%	1
14895	Wellsville	NY	50,300	1,392	33.2%	3.6
15045	Glassport	PA	53,100	776	17.5%	2.6
15110	Duquesne	PA	44,500	780	21.0%	6.4
15132	McKeesport	PA	46,000	780	20.3%	2.2
15148	Wilmerding	PA	46,500	806	20.8%	0.5
15210	Pittsburgh	PA	54,400	876	19.3%	3.4
21521	Barton	MD	66,400	1,217	22.0%	5.1
21562	Westernport	MD	59,600	1,279	25.8%	4.9
44055	Lorain	OH	52,500	712	16.3%	1.3
44102	Cleveland	OH	48,000	821	20.5%	6.2
44104	Cleveland	OH	43,200	835	23.2%	8.3
61401	Galesburg	IL	64,200	1,058	19.8%	4.1
73108	Oklahoma City	OK	43,900	653	17.8%	3.8
73111	Oklahoma City	OK	49,200	718	17.5%	0.7

[Eddie Werner]

For me the catch is the "boots on the ground" knowledge to know which areas are safe with a strong rental base.  I can only speak to PA on your list.  Certain areas of McKeesport and Glassport are fine.  I would stay way from Duquense and Wilmerding because they constantly come up in the morning news.....not for good things.  Knowing the neighborhood is everything....a few streets apart can be different worlds as it relates to drugs, crime, etc.