High Vacancy on Apt. Complexes Investor Analysis

[William Tomp]

I'm just looking to get an opinion.

As investors or property managers, do you completely avoid neighborhoods with high vacancy rates, or would you consider purchasing an apartment complex in a neighborhood with high vacancy rates if the price is right?

There is one neighborhood I'm looking at where the vacancy rate is roughly 29%. The property I'm looking at is currently at 60% vacancy. If I were able to bring up the property to neighborhood averages, there would be huge cash flow and NOI Increase. The property needs a lot of capital improvements and can be purchased at a deep discount due to seller COVID panicking. The neighborhood is decent (B, maybe B-) just a little distant from the city and lower population density. All other things being equal, is this something I should look further into or is it something you'd recommend I steer clear of?