Will an experienced investor please explain what I am missing?

[Cody Lown]

Hi,
I have been reading the forums here, and been learning as much as possible for awhile now. I am interested in long-term cashflowing rental property investments. I am moving to Lansing, MI for graduate school, and have recently been looking at places there. I am somewhat familiar with the area already, and have been getting better acquainted. My main question is: It appears that there are hundreds of homes for sale in the Lansing area that would cashflow a lot of money (relatively speaking of course). Many of them, at market rent, would be well over 3 or 4 times PITI. I am talking about rent ready homes, not handyman specials. Resources I use: homes.com, rentometer.com, Ingham County website, craigslist.com, etc. I am factoring location, proximity to downtown and Michigan State University, population decay etc. Can someone please fill me in. I am obviously missing something. Please take into account the fact that I have yet to own real estate, am not yet an investor, rather a young person wanting to learn as much as possible before jumping in after school.