One of the biggest challenges of investing in Rustbelt cities is knowing where to invest and properly understanding the cooresponding pros & cons.Here's copy & paste advice we share to help to address this challenge:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

I understand they purchased their property bit earlier at a lower price, but the difference shouldn't be so significant.

People focus on the rates because they are a singular number and easy to understand but you can lose money on a rental at a low interest rate and get rich paying a high interest rate.

Quote from @Giacomo Matthew Degl'Innocenti: I very understand your speech but it's hard to believe the tenant has nowadays became invested of a far bigger responsibility than the landlord in making it possible to be having depicted an accurate profile also because is the landlord indeed who's on the business and receiving the money.Thanks your intervening here though  There is zero logic in any of this. 

Just make sure you understand how to underwrite a property or partner with a Hard Money lender that can manage the process for you. 

For example when someone wants to have financial freedom and spend more time with family, but then sets a goal by creating a heavy active income stream that involves their personal involvement daily.

When a lot of tenants are involved, you want to provide as many options as possible.

Whichever direction you go, be sure to work with folks who understand this and gives you the confidence to take reasonable action - I'd personally take an okay investment and weather the storm for a few years that will eventually perform well, and do that each year - rather than take 3 years to wait for the best deal possible.

I find this screens out any guests that could have issues and lays the groundwork for a great stay.It also weeds out folks (in our case) that aren't understanding the distance to town and certain activities in our area.

The GRID meetup in Edwardsville (also mentioned above by Rich Groves) is new but I understand it's drawing lots of folks.