After crunching some more numbers, I am starting to agree that looking somewhere cheaper will make the most mathematical sense.

I moved to AZ from Chicago in August of 2008 and at the beginning of 2009 began to experience the economic crunch, however by the grace of God I was able to make it through. 

I'm wondering if there are good ways to use the available data and crunch numbers to see if there are some quick stats that would show a good place to invest.

I'm good number crunching and modeling.

You need to crunch the numbers to see if it makes sense.

Sounds like both the buyer and seller are in a financial crunch.  

But when it now comes time to crunch my own actual numbers I can't seem to repeat any of the success stories I am hearing (maybe that's my problem, high expectations?).

But as previous posters mention the ARV is always inflated so be careful number crunching and always plan for the worst.

They want to get and close the deal without attention to detail beyond " do you qualify"- we want to crunch the numbers and squeeze every last dollar off our monthly expenses.

@Georgui Kasaev thanks , I’m so I see it is very difficult to come across , even in Athens which surprised me, I had this assumption, a rural college area may be able to , maybe I aiming too high  & should try and meet halfway with maybe a 1.5% and crunch my numbers , seems like  those days of being all in a property for 50-60 & getting 1000-1200 rent days are over lol , thanks for the insight