Advice on Investing in Rentals in VERY small towns

[Pam R.]

I'm in Central Ohio, and have been looking for a good investment property or two in Delaware OH for nearly a year. I've purchased one, looked at a few, bid on a couple of others. But good deals are getting harder to find.

Where I do see better deals are in very, very small towns in the area - probably 30-40 minutes from Columbus (so there are jobs in a reasonable distance) - but some of these towns have populations of around 2k people, or even less.

Does anyone have any advice/experience on rental properties within such small populations? Is it tragically difficult to find quality tenants? Are rents generally suppressed?

I know different geographies will have different circumstances, but advice on any hazards or pitfalls would be appreciated.