You might check with the city planning department & see if there's any long-term strategy for the area that might influence your decision.

HUD's been out of the business of funding landlords with money for decades. that's one of the areas where the training comes in: influencing landlords and aspiring 'vendors' to learn how to form the state, county, city, community, private & corporate/institutional partnerships that lead to a HUD Sec. 8 grant award becoming available as a "program". if you for instance want to charge elderly tenants $ 2,400 a month for a two bedroom dwelling you can propose that criteria within your Sec. 8 grant proposal as a 'program' vendor. a lot of military veterans that are mildly disabled have allowances for that target range of rent with a live-in home care attendant, or home health aid assistant. most well known regional markets have 5+ year Sec. 8 waiting lists of very desirable tenants that you can cherry pick to your heart's content, featuring all manor of financial circumstance. they range from homeless to affluent with interim insolvency due to quite practical reasons. divorce is a very prominent scenario. a growing wave of real estate heirs are among those Sec. 8 waiting lists in more and more strategic regions. you may find that interacting with more recently credentialed occupancy certification specialists can better acquaint you with the actual yield(s) that would be available from the wide unrelated contributors to a potential Sec. 8, or locally subsidized program military bases also circulate routine information on what certain types of housing is worth to their ongoing efforts for key time intervals. their veteran G.

It's better to restrict and manage possession, which can be terminated much easier and controlled without concern for possessor recanting later due to rethinking deal, family influences or desire to repurpose YOUR asset.

House prices though and price patterns is however an element/variable that just about any government is able to influence and control -- if they feel like it.

Santa Monica, CAMedian 2006 was 850K2011 Median was $825K.2015 median 1.25 mil If you were to able to time Gold investing 2006-11 alternatively you would have come out much better.Many new investors are influenced by short term numbers as you noted. 

All things being equal (HAH HAH) I'd rather deal with a higher-end neighborhood where I'm less concerned about the influence of bad neighbors or theft....

All of these issues will heavily influence whether or not 15% is realistic or not for repairs. 

As you might have heard, the combination of the super moon influencing the tide, and Joaquin passing by, the area has been in a state of emergency. 

Simply refer to the rules, which as a landlord you have the power to significantly influence, and never let them see you react emotionally.

You should touch your sphere of influence and see if maybe you can get your hands on some private money with a fair return to your lender.