I am looking for a program that will scan the MLS (or similar public MLS site) for listings and county records for foreclosures and will analyze those properties and compare those active listings and or county pre-foreclosures to other like properties that have recently sold with similar characteristics.

We want to find First-Time Home Buyer areas, but are having a hard time identifying the characteristics as we start our search of new areas.  

I don't know that he meant C-corp :D An LLC is not a "corporation," (though it shares some characteristics).

- property characteristics ( bed/bath, sq.

There are several pros of using them that directly address the pain points you are experiencing: One characteristic of brand new real estate agents is that they will bust their *** to make any deal happen that they possibly can.

Is it OK that the equipment and pump shed is unsightly?

I also understand that at a basic level it's the interaction between the real estate purchase market and rental market supply and demand curves which drive attributes like price to rent ratios in a given area.My question is, how do those two related supply/demand curves interact at a fundamental level and what are the common characteristics or reasons a market maintains a good price to rent ratio?

I view rental income as a high return preferred bond with better tax characteristics and hopefully purchased at deep discount to NAV- net asset value.

What are the characteristics that matter most to you?

What parameters/characteristics do u review to determine whether a rental market is a good market?