Research landlord-friendly states with lower property prices and strong rental demand, like Texas or the Midwest.

Most of the easy "lipstick on a pig" transformations are gone - you're often looking at more serious rehabs to make the numbers work.That said, we do have some advantages: strong rental market (lots of students, young professionals), still relatively affordable deals, and good appreciation potential in many neighborhoods.

We also have a very strong rental market, and that too has high demand from investors wanting to purchase. 

Duluth has traditionally had a strong college rental market and thankfully any small decline in enrollment rates haven't been as severe as other traditional college cities, eg.

If not, cut it all out and put down some strong sturdy plywood.

If not, then you really need a strong legal structure stating how these properties will be governed going forward, including management, tenant selection, capital expenses, etc.

if his income is strong enough and not as much debt, he should be OKHope that helps..

They didn't extend loan maturities because they were looking out for borrowers--and the moment they feel the market is strong enough for them to liquidate the asset they will foreclose and/or force a sale to recover as much principal as they can. 

If you can make some relationships prior to that with agents in the area who do what you want to, you can find yourself on a team or at a strong brokerage that matches what you want to do.

So, I'd like to get ahead of the game and start working up a plan and a strong argument for it which I can use when the time comes.