Monopolized portfolio in submarket

[Ariel Gonzalez]

I was once presented with a portfolio of apartments that were the only apartments in a sub-market. This particular market had a small population, I believe it was under 15K. But it was near a neighboring city (30-45 minute commute) with a lot of potential value. Each property had a value-add opportunity for each of them so I could have purchased them for a discount. I reviewed other market conditions (population growth, median household income, etc.) and I ended up passing up on this deal since it didn't have a population growth over the past 2 years. 

I'm curious to know if anyone has ever been presented with a deal like this before and if so, are you still concerned with the market conditions in that market even though you have more control? 

Also, are there more requirements that you have for a deal like this? Or any other data you look for with a deal like? 

I'm curious to know if I weighed too heavily on market conditions instead of the actual properties in the portfolio.