Jon, in my market you can purchase a 3 bed home in a good school district for between 35k and 50k.

IE all renters or buyers MUST be approved by the office and you pay land rent even if the MH is empty (you're between renters).The easiest rental model is renting out (SFR) houses in good school districts.

This also help when comparing competing properties for sale or as comps from various taxing districts, even region wide.

We have a riverwalk, historic district I look for deals in since the homes are classy and close to water.

I'm a 'fix and hold' investor in the East Bay, with my properties centered in Richmond (the city, not the SF district) right now.

In Ferndale, for homes in the Ferndale school district, the homestead millage rate is 53.59 and the non-homestead millage rate is 71.77, or 34% higher.

He came from nothing and got his kids into a very good school district, and now his widow(my mom) has social security, his pension, a paid off house, and significant savings to draw on.

How good are the school districts where you live?

This morning NPR had a story about MIT professor William Wheaton (http://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/william-wheaton) and his forecast for 70 markets in the U.S.

You are right some of the information is already available and not that hard to find, such as schools; they are ranked top school district in the state and the area has some middle and high end homes within a 4 miles radio.