Investing in small towns

[Andrew Brown]

Hello everyone - hoping some of you with experience investing in small towns might be able to weigh in here and provide some guidance.  I moved to a town of 3,000 people in Nebraska about three and half years ago.  One of the problems I've come across when running numbers is that rents in town really seem to be capped.  Decent two-bedroom units generally go for about $500-550/month, and three bedrooms don't seem to fetch much more than $600-650.  Short of buying something very cheap that needs few repairs (maybe they're out there), I find it really difficult when using the BP calculators to come up with anything that makes sense.  There's a housing shortage across most small towns in Nebraska and mine is no exception.  However, this seems to be reflected much more in sale prices than market rents.  Just curious if any of you have encountered a similar plight and found creative ways to put deals together.

Switching gears a bit, I drive past the county courthouse almost daily.  What kinds of questions should I ask if I wander in there looking for leads for potential deals?  

I welcome any insight.