They tend to attract big companies, hospitable systems, cool downtowns with good restaurants, lots of events, and are usually a 1-2 hour drive from a major metro and airport.

An IRS lien, code violations (weed abatement, grass cutting, boarding windows-doors, and demolition costs), HOA fees, water- sewer bills all go along with the property providing the property has any of these. 

cool. 

Right now we are seeing land taking some decent hits (especially what your selling) as disposable income is down and a lot of this land really has no way to be built upon because it lacks any source of water.

Even back then there were a lot of high rise hotels where you could get a decent condo-style room with hot water, cable tv etc for really cheap ($15-20USD/night).

We don't want to leverage it for the sake of leveraging it, but we are sort of treading water. 

There are some cool local meetups where you can connect with more seasoned investors.

There is so much variance of tax rates, insurance rates, should the house have a basement, foundation issues, do I need a 1in copper water line or is pex better for the climate, etc.

If I have to hold off a bit more for prices to cool, I will.

If it was municipal water, I would bill the tenant back because the cost would be variable based on usage.