Apologies to all but having to even ASK the question is depressing. 

I spent a lot of days in my pajamas....the depression and the fear set in after a couple of weeks. 

@JeffreyCharter I have an office in Danville and the town has continued to be economically depressed.

Overall, you want to invest in a market moving in the right direction versus stagnation or declineI like the market to have a diversified set of industries / employees - that way if one industry declines in the future or a company goes out of business or moves it doesn't depress the city (think of upstate NY when Kodak when out of business)I like purchase prices to be more reasonable and closer to $100,000 for the median property price.I like a city that has a relative high percentage of the population that rents so I know there is a large and vibrant rental pool.  

One of the areas I've started researching more here is Chelsea/Everett/East Boston/Revere, since the property values are still depressed compared to the rest of Boston and the rents are not.

@Caleb Rigby The Vernal area hadn't been on my radar until a realtor friend from Vernal told me about the depressed prices there.  

Hey steve,Two rivers/manitowoc/kewaunee area was hit hard when the power plant shut down a few years back.I have yet to look closer, but the area looks economically depressed.

You can find good areas of a lot of markets but Cleveland and Detroit are pretty depressed overall.

Hey, just to add to the Kendall Yards and West Central neighborhoods in Spokane, west central is a very economically depressed area.

A year later there's a major depression in Detroit and you try to cash out on your house, only to find it's only worth $10,000 - you've lost $10,000 in asset value.