Hopefully you have kept track of where they work and bank. 

Or, the houses I can afford are older, need work, and are not in the best areas.

Can take your time on the rehab, do some of it yourself, build your contractor network, get familiar with rehab work and costs, not have to live with roommates (house hack), get owner occupied financing, and get tax free gain on sale at the end of it. 

Absolutely,I have a lot of clients working in Detroit and it has some great opportunities centered around 1-4 unit, affordable fixers that, with a little bit of work can become great cash flowing investments with lower annual tax and insurance costs.The downside is that you definitely have to know what you are doing as the good properties need some hefty work, and the market is pretty competitive.

Unfortunately, it is usually irreversible, because that high level of trim work and materials is so expensive. 

A wise investor will not try to get rich quick with shortcuts.

🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️✨Anything worth it takes work and patience

It will need some work and the price is not bad for the lot size, estimated at $375k.

He used this experience to motivate him in his work and be grateful for the opportunity he had. 

Goal would be to reduce manual work and time intensive tasks2.