The townhouse is located near by Kennesaw State University, in a nice and safe neighborhood, not too far from downtown (about 30-45mins), with easy access to I75 (huge deal for Atlanta, especially if you work in downtown). 

The same will hold true in any market you examine I am just using my own market to drive home this point. 

It seems safe to say the properties with lengthy periods of tax non-payment are most likely to be houses the high bidder could foreclose upon.  

I never stop driving for dollars.  

The only cost is the price of gasoline to drive there.

a simple drive by would have probably shown the property was in the HOOD..

All are in my single member LLCs, so they pass directly through to my 1040 ... so I have a lot of schedule Es, 6252s & a ton of "Section 1.263(a)-1(f) de minimis safe harbor election" statements. 

One hypothesis I have is that this is a very safe residential area in Oakland where a lot of people say it's a place they want to grow family in.

The key is to buy a “good” property at a “good” price; if it can be financed with maximum leverage SAFELY, so much the better.  

I enjoy real estate the drive and the rush for me is closing deals finding them and helping others accomplish the same.