I have been to a few RE groups/meetups, and sometime conversation can get sideways and upside-down.

I hope the summits go well this weekend, unfortunately, I'm going to have to stick to my local RE group to network for the time being.

Join as many local RE groups as possible.

Join a local RE group so you can have more in depth discussions. 

Investing in bad area is losing strategy for you, sell cut your losses, regroup, if I was you I would look into something like buying a 4plex in the neighborhood you would feel good living in yourself and house hacking it.

My advice is connect with local RE groups/meetup events where you will meet investors, agents, brokers, etc. and shop it out there.

Or it's in the other Las Cruces RE group.

If you plan on investing in the Tampa area, I recommend you meet with local RE groups up there (you should be able to find them on BP or meetup(dot)com as well as other sites).

I work with so many sellers that are in various "bad" situations that had no idea there were other options for them, and there are many buyers (both buy and hold and fix and flip) that are depending upon wholesalers to provide properties that have margins for profit in them.My advice to you is to get engaged with your local RE group and there will certainly be a wide array of RE investors that can help you navigate the local legal aspects, and my experience is that there is a large portion of these folks that are happy to help anyone in need.

Then buy yourself a new primary once you have regrouped.4.