I see many invest far away and have little clue about the exact locations fundamentals, schools, crime, actual vacancy rates, jobs, future jobs, future developements and sometimes the sellers even have less understanding.

Based on my fundamental analysis it ranks very highly (affordable, growing, not much new supply).

My orientation here is fundamental, meaning it can be applied in all situations.

I'm guessing since your house dropped so much in value maybe it's location doesn't have as good fundamentals (population growth, job diversity, etc.) ?? 

@Grant Rothenburger  All valid points, getting property is definitely the most fundamental part of investing in real estate, haha.  

If at any point the property owner pays off the overdue property taxes before the lien expires (period may vary by state), the county is the party that earns the interest.Properties that are owner-occupied (as indicated by a homestead exemption showing up on the annual tax bills) or have a mortgage are most likely to be bid on because they have a higher likelihood of being paid off either by the homeowner or the mortgagee (the lender); the homeowner probably doesn't want to lose his/her place of residence and the lender probably doesn't want to lose its investment.If no one has bid on a lien, there are likely issue(s) with the property that, in the eyes of bidders with investor mindsets, render the property valueless, for example:the property has no direct access (landlocked or waterlocked),the property is too small to be built on as-of-right per the municipality's zoning codes,the property is contaminated (a Phase I environmental report would scour records on the property to see if contamination is likely, and if so, a Phase II environmental report would be done and soil, etc. samples would be taken to confirm the contamination),the market fundamentals indicate little probability for profit given the level of risk, such as high vacancy rates, low rents, or slow sale/rental velocity,the property is in a "poor" location due to many of the types of things that turn off people looking for a home in which to live, such as high crime; poor or nonexistent infrastructure, such a streets, water & sewer, etc.; too rural/too urban; neighboring uses detrimental to the property's value, e.g. railroad, warehousing/industrial district, jail/prison, cemetery, etc.I hope that helps!

The algorithms that they run on operate fundamentally differently based on their perspective when they created them.

What I really wanted to get from this post was the fundamentals of renting.

And you can only use the VA loan if you intend to occupy one of the units.You really should consider reading a few books on the fundamentals of real estate investing.

These parameters will help decide what kind of yields you are searching for, which you can use to filter down your list of macro markets.Then I would start by looking at the macro market's fundamentals, that is the population, job and income growth over time.After that, I would look to see what the rents and home prices are and how those are trending as well.I would do a similar analysis, but at the sub-market level for the metro area you are considering investing in.Other metrics that I find valuable to understand are household income, poverty, unemployment, and educational attainment.