Some of these companies are very bare bones. 

First of all, our economy is still running hot, we barely got away from seeing "We're hiring" sign everywhere, uneplyment rate is 3.7% and lower then it has been 95% of the time in the last 30 years.

That, and the fact that I would just barely recoupe the additional charges they impose for initial setup in the first 3 years, turned me off of it as an investment for the time being.

Typically, if an applicant barely meets are criteria, we will charge a higher deposit.  

I am sure it is possible to do well on a flip but most stories I hear people take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years and on their first barely break even because they are learning.

So far February (barely) and March were down but every other month has been up YoY.

As you mentioned, they do not call you when the place is barely touched to tell you to pay less, they should take the good with the bad. 

Ideally we would like to cash flow or at bare minimum break even.

will also on the left coast its exceedingly rare that a property with improvements goes to tax sale ..99.9% of tax sale props are bare land. 

Go where people are barely talking about but you can see the area growing.