Escanaba and Iron Mountain might be good areas too, but the economy relies pretty heavy on the Bilerud paper mills (less so in Iron Mountain I think), and the timber market is pretty crappy at the moment. 

Not to mention the sewer pipes are cast iron and in this case was getting close to the end of their useful life (50 years).

Ironically, this is actually not good long term since the floors get slightly thinner each time you refinish them. 

Ironically a 3-4 year old, second hand truck would be about double ... forthcoming harmonization of vehicle sat standards are suppose to permit us (in Canada) to import newer foreign vehicles.We could have probably made due with a smaller VW Transporter or small Merc 200 class Sprinter, but we could not find one with a 3-way dump (which has turned out to be my favourite feature).We have already had offers to purchase the truck (for more than our costs) ... so, as soon as we find a newer one with *all* the features we want ....

For example if you intend to hold property long term and roofs are 25+ years old or you have 40 year old caste iron pipes etc.

The ironic thing is that many other new investors buy those deals based on the assumption that off market deals are better and the wholesaler knows the market better than they do. 

For anything over 30 years, make sure you camera the sewer pipes, especially if they are cast iron or clay, as they are liable to collapse.

Having built a management operation, been there done that, I can tell you change does not come quick, it will take a long time for the operation to iron itself out.

So it is a very common issue effecting about 70,000 properties.What happens over time is that the lead piples from a PbO2 (lead dioxyde, similar to rust on iron) layer on the inside which creates a barrier between the water flowing in the pipe and the actual pipe. 

But also saw trailer parks, houses with iron bars on windows and doors, very old houses, pit bulls, etc.