Sadly, my dad and step mom are hoarders but its "knowledge and antiques" based meaning piles of news paper articles.

Haven't found anything "exciting" in any of them except an old, old newspaper shoved up a fireplace that had been there since the 50's (I'll skip the "Jug's" magazine found in one bathroom.Gail

;-)Looking more closely at newspaper articles and research statistics for things like job growth, economy, etc. will help you feel more confident in the area and back up the two most important numbers above, but can easily lead to analysis paralysis if you plan on doing it for 100+ areas.

Drive around in low income neighborhoods and look for vacant houses or commercial buildings - contract the owners - make an offer subject to you assigning your contract to someone else - learn about real estate auctions - meet investors there - run some ads in the newspaper or do radio commercial.You'll do well - it just takes a little time ----- Good luck

However, if the house is truly vacant, would the HOA be able to enforce the appearance standards in order to keep the house looking nice, or would the typical distressed property signs start showing up, I.e. over grown vegetation, newspapers piling up, etc.?

Check out newspapers, craigslist, rentometer, etc.

Also, we now bring a large trash can and 3 mil think bags for it, boxes and newspaper to assist our tenants with the move out.

You can also try a few different newspapers but that will cost money.

So although hectic showing home several times and dealing with potential tenants the only real costs incurred was about $20 newspaper ad and fuel driving to showings.

Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:I dont know anything about San Antonio, but unless it is a dying city like Detroit...Stop reading the 10 year old newspaper strips your mother put in your outhouse for toilet paper.