I went through this process when I decided where to retire.At a high level, I used financial media, Wikipedia, and local news (many TV stations stream their local news broadcasts) to select a state and city.At the neighborhood level, I used CrimeReports to get a feel for crime and real estate listings to get a feel for the type of housing in the zip code.Then it's boots on the ground to home in on a specific choice.

When this happens it makes sense, but this is not the norm.this is old news but I think read an article I forbes about the FLA tax liens and that insurance companies etc were happy with 5% so they bid everything down.. and placed large blocks of what they felt was secure money at better than CD rates.. ?? 

Instead most are guppies that follow whatever the news media tells them to do.

The 2% is "NEWS" to me...Matter of fact, I was thinking to look at this Duplexes in TX that satisfies the 1% rule but I guess that as well is not good for investing.

And still had all the 'Open House" signs in the basement.The good news is that with each failed flip some speculator is out of the game.

seems to me we suck down bad news for a while, close up our wallets and hibernate economically for a few years.

Locally, I wasn't overly concerned until today when there were big news stories about rationing rice.

I've got ZERO experience with real estate except for what i read in the news and books and etc.

The good news for us at Forest Creek is that the community is very nice and will do ok in this bad economy.

Found out some disheartening news about my credit report.