The WHY is important.And you are skating on VERY thin ice to start making any decision based on "preferences" when it comes to gender/age/race/marital status etc...all protected classes...bad idea. 

Many illegals live a low key lifestyle to avoid being targeted, and there is a high likelihood that they will be a much better renter than anyone else that you will find.As soon as I am put on ICE's payroll, I will start caring about peoples immigration status, until then it's none of my business. 

Considering the investment, from appreciation, price points, and potential rent, while also considering cheap labor, property taxes, and the icing on the cake would be niche products to refi! 

Unit needs immediate attention to extract water before any further damage occurs due to ice.

I am one of those who consider appreciation icing on the cake.

No its not just the icing on the cake, most of the time it is the cake.

I much prefer the immediate cash flow, and appreciation is just the icing on the cake.I'm sure there must be future-based thoughts around the wave of more foreclosures to come and how might that impact the speculative investment...Wouldn't that devalue or lessen the price of homes around the surrounding area?

If I was a full time landlord, then I would be looking strictly for cashflow and would consider any appreciation as icing on the cake.

Should I not calculate this potential extra income for now and then consider that icing if the numbers work for the initial calculation?

I know I am completely in the minority on this one.But I for one do not think  ( appreciation is icing on the cake) I think  a prudent investor should be looking at properties that have a chance to rise in value fairly significantly over time as with mortgage pay down and appreciation that is were the bigger dollars are made.And Kyle the Reason I say this is over the course of owning these homes 10 to 20 years.. your going to need to do a full rehab gut job most likely to sell them... and that is to just sell them for what you paid for them.. now I know you will be putting money aside for capex however experience has dictated to me its never enough.. so with sale commission etc. if you have no real upward movement in your values and you do need to cash out.. you may take a loss of actual principal to then be off set by cash flow.. but it will lower your return over time.And if you buy in an area that has upward movement and can realistically be sold to a homeowner you have a very great chance of selling your home and recapturing this end of life cycle major rehab and potentially greater equity in the appreciation over time.The only way lower end properties that have static value can rise in value if rents rise appreciably over time.. and since many of these areas are hud reliant that involves our government increasing the benefits ...