Thieves look for the red tag on the meter and then they go in and strip the home.Our average tenant timeframe in those areas were about 8-9 months and double the staff time to deal with all their issues of month to month life, so from my experience unless you want another job of adult daycare those are the things you are going get coming down your funnel of fun.We ended up selling all of ours in that area and we do not even manage them because it was just too time intensive and problematic.I have done many speech's and had many conversations with investors about when I did "My Time" in the South-East.

I've done many of these, but you're going to have to have an elevation difference somehow. 

I'm looking at a brick 3-Flat in Chicago that is immediately next to the elevated train line.

I have dealt with quite a few and sometimes some have a way of elevating their interest of earning a commission above the clients best interest.

@Steven King what's your 'elevator pitch'?

Im not a mentor, but i would hit up all the local REIAs and use your best elevator pitch there. it wont be easy. a good REI mentor is making several hundred dollars an hour. and they can pay 10$ for grunt work. go driving for dollars and get a list of 100 vacant/distressed properties(ugliest ones in the on a clean block). find the owner via the county and put them together in an excel spreadsheet (owner/address/last sale date)and then approach someone who you feel comfortable with. dont offer it all up at once, it has to be a fit for you too. print out business cards with a number and hand them out like crazy, talk to realtors and flippers/wholesalers via networking and email them, text them, call them a few days later to follow up and talk about your list. that is value$$ "hey mrs/mr realtor/investor, i have this list and id be glad to share it with you for a JV split 20/80 for the first 3"..."

Also if you think the property is located high enough, you can get an elevation survey done to try to get the house exempted from flood insurance.

There are other apartments in the area that are available, that are low income (which is what he needs anyways) and have elevators in them.

The top of the lowest part of the foundation must be 1 foot above the flood plain, if you house is in a flood plain but built on a mound or hill, a "spot elevation" by a surveyor is worth the engineer's assessment.

My plan is to spend between $20-$30 per foot to remediate all that damage and bring it up to Class B+ (there is no elevator).