You would be really hard pressed to find a good deal in either of these areas that isn't going to require significant work.There are some okay parts of the Clark/Fulton area, but I'm not sure I would consider it to be emerging and I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending someone to invest there for the most part.

Press on!  

Currently I'm pressing my real estate agent to get a receipt for the $200 repair, but the seller's agent has been extremely slow to respond and seemingly not to care about this closing.  

The scale of these deals is intimidating, but the feedback and info here on BP is really helping me press on!

(Loan held by the bank and not resold)  They are technically commercial loans against residential property.Alternatively seek private money lenders or, if more pressed, a hard money lender. 

For stock sizes, I think you will be hard pressed to beat the big box stores.

One thing that I have learned is to press your foot down around the base of the toilet, bathtub, or anywhere where water could leak out to feel for spongy or soggy subfloor.

To Kevin- there are MANY parts of Baton Rouge and South LA that have never flooded.As far as natural disasters go, you’ll be hard pressed to find an area in the US that isn’t affected by SOME kind of natural disaster every now and then (hurricanes, flooding, tornados, forest fires, earthquakes, blizzards, dust storms, etc).

This is definitely a bummer, but I'm pressing on.

Other than Kansas City, you'll be hard pressed to find a market that cash flows well and has strong economic and demographic trends like Indy.