How do you gauge the activity of the rental market?

[Steven Moore]

I am new at this, and am looking at buying in the Tulsa, OK market from San Diego. I grew up in Tulsa, and it seems like a pretty good market for income property. 

In thinking about parts of town in which to purchase, how do I gauge how likely I am to find renters for my property? Obviously some parts of town are more desirable for renters than others. How do I figure that out? 

Many thanks.

[Curtis Yoder]

4th and Sheridan is a C+ rental neighborhood. I have a few homes in the area and we screen very tightly to make sure we get good tenants. Most of the homes in the area are 50 years old and about 1,000sf. =/- Rents range from 700 to 1000 for the larger  or nicer homes.

There are definitely pockets in this area that are much nicer than even a couple of streets over. You really need to drive the streets to get a feel for the location. These are definitely working class neighborhoods very similar to the one I grew up in there in Tulsa. I love to take the worst house on the street and turn it around physically, then we insert some great tenants! Good luck to you.