That said, a woman is at greatest risk when, or shortly after, she leaves a violent relationship - statistics and the research at John Hopkins backs this fact ... as does my wife, who has worked in the field for many years.

That place has had some violent activity and you are going to have a difficult time managing tenancy.  

This is no different than a person trying to rent a home, I'm not going to rent to you if you have a history of non-payment or have been convicted of violent crimes.

The guy that called me back informed me that if we had a licensed broker/agent representing us in each transaction, we weren't running afoul of the 5 property law -- it was only if we were representing ourselves.Now, it was bad enough that the RE attorney and the RE commission guy were in violent disagreement, but here's the real kicker -- the RE commission guy was the son of the RE attorney.When we told the RE attorney that we got different guidance from his own son on the RE commission, he did some hand waving, told us that we must not have presented all the facts to his son, and that he was sure he was correct.

Here are a few of mine in order of priority:Price-to-rent Ratio - 1% + ($1,000 rent for a $100,000 house or better)Crime/Safety - no violent crimeSchools - high rated schoolsAppreciation Rates - San Antonio is a relatively low appreciation area, but I am trying to find the best I can.What are some of yours?

Second I assume you are looking for single family houses for long term rentals to hold and not rehabs or commercial properties.If that's the case you need to be very careful investing from afar in single family houses as the dynamics are different.Do not be sold on a property where they say it's CLOSE to this great area etc.Instead look at population growth, quality of schools, the economic planning department, permits pulled for building, whether the state is business friendly and whether it is a pro-tenant or pro-landlord state, median income levels, job growth, and crime levels ( violent versus non-violent offenses ) etc.Many more metrics to look at but this will get you started.

The reality is stretched police departments work on the most violent calls first for priority and then get to your non pressing issues later if not at all.Hope it helps.

I always thought that was part of the deal with the city, and may have been.While we were waiting on the rest of the tenants to get their acts together, the Cincy PD shot and killed a minority kid that touched off a week of violent riots and mayhem.

Also, the only thing im sure of is if there was a violent murder or something, i'd demolish the house.

@J Scott Yes, understood and we are in violent agreement. :-) However, there was the promise of a wholesaler specific tool.