Obviously the more depressed areas will have the cheapest properties. 

The guy went thru some health issues and depression, consequently the place is a wreck.  

However, I live in California and don't know anything about the Michigan RE market other than it's very depressed as you have indicated. 

Buy great properties that are depressed in value for trivial reasons (dated, smells, hoarder, etc) Also every-time I sell appliances or furniture out of a house I just bought I always think of Warren Buffet's Net-Nets where the value of the business was less than the liquidation of the business lol.

Virtually the only people to lose money in San Diego RE are those that sold when the market was depressed. 

Stockton around UOP may have some promise as there are nice areas around there for our strategy but those areas have been depressed for a long, long time.  

I wouldn’t feel unsafe anywhere there, but keep your eyes open.Glendon can have some depressed areas.

The Great Depression and the Financial Crisis.

As in, what areas are on the up and what areas are depressed? 

Let's say its a $100K ARV house and you are taking 65% of ARV minus $15K in repairs then you are at 50%.I made a $30K offer yesterday on a house that has a $75K ARV and it needs $13K in repairs, so I could say I'm trying to buy it at 40% of ARV but the repairs are what put me there.Bottom line is I don't think that buying for a 50% profit margin is a realistic standard to be looking to buy multiple houses at unless you are in a very depressed market.