I live around Huntsville, the epicenter of northern Alabama.

If you're a single mom with student loans, a car payment, and living paycheck-to-paycheck, then $20,000 would be devastating and a reserve is critical.

I live in Nashville, TN.

I can absolutely assist…I am a Full Time Realtor and RE Investor here in Ventura County.I help the full range of clients buyer, seller, renters, investors etc. 

So - somewhere 2 hours away, or somewhere you like to vacation in, or where all your family lives, or where you plan to move someday.Too many people are trying to do exactly what you're doing - pick a market based on a formula - and they end up buying a random 'cheap' property thousands of miles away, turn it over to people they've never met or even spoken to, and then... lose money.  

If you are buying to live in, you could also do FHA with a cosigner.

I can speak from experience as a student at Texas A&M, I lived in a 5 br/5 b house and I knew plenty of other students who lived in similar houses or "Ag Shacks" if you will.

I could see a requirement, perhaps under the Patriot Act, that requires all landlords to get a SSN/TIN from everyone living in a unit and report that (or lack of) to the federal government.

I live outside of Charlotte in a small town called Denver (of the East).

I live in a rural market and this type of issue with technology may not be as big a factor in urban areas.