I am not going to move into a dormitory style house and raise my two year old in a location with poor schools and incredibly dense housing, unless I have no other option. 

Sometimes it’s about being a little flexible on location or property type.But enough about me: Where do you see your first property purchase happening, and what’s your biggest question right now about making that leap?

It was built in the 2010s and located in an established neighborhood with convenient access to schools, amenities, and major transportation routes.

Now we're seeing investors pouring money into buying Class C rentals - but, many are getting burned.In our experience & opinion, the main determinant of property Class is not location or even property condition, those are #2 and #3.

It was built in the 2010s and located in an established neighborhood with convenient access to schools, amenities, and major transportation routes.

Assumptions: specifically allowed in city ordinances, mobile home manufacturing in the area, or that someone heavily marketed that area as a retirement location in the past. 

Quote from @Chris Scarazzini: Hello bigger pockets community, I am a new investor located in the capital region of NY.

I'm a STR owner / manager located in Texas (Bryan /College Station, TX specifically.) 

Usually when a landlord cannot find qualified tenants but are getting a fair amount of inquiries there's an underlying real estate problem and the qualified tenants simply do not want to live in that location.

One of the biggest challenges of investing in Rustbelt cities is knowing where to invest and properly understanding the cooresponding pros & cons.Here's copy & paste advice we share to help to address this challenge:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?