Our further visual inspections after offer acceptance revealed repair costs that are significantly higher than initially anticipated when the offer was submitted. 

The other cities you mention likely have their own interesting dynamics and developments.

I have alway been a very visual and active learner and throughout my entire life I've found that the best way to learn anything is by DOING!

@Michael Wagner you must have visual's on my desktop. 

The house had been made visually appealing but essentially unlivable.

If you can get a copy of the report and lead certificate, you can do a mostly visual inspection of the property (called a PCAD - post compliance assessment determination). 

Frankly speaking we just don't have the population dynamics or the geographic constraints that it would take to produce a true PoP investment strategy like you can find in Tier 1 metros or quickly growing 2nd and 3rd tier metros with geographic barriers.To illustrate this, I would recommend driving down each street between NW 10th and NW30th, from May to Classen and back. 

If you are having a hard time finding sufficient rent comps 15 mins outside of the downtown area of a smaller, secondary / tertiary market (correct me if I am wrong), should you be calling agents / brokers to better understand the dynamics of the neighborhood?

It's really incredible how one bad tenant can change the dynamic of an entire street.

More info is visually confusing and too many options