I wouldn't bother investing outside of the big city centers, nor buying anything younger than 30 years old. 

Each city is different. 

Their home has been vacant for over 4 years and is uninhabitable as the city water dept cut off service due to a faulty septic system spilling sewage in both our backyards.

I am from California, but lived in Peachtree City, Georgia last year (renting), and currently live in Germany as an Au Pair.

Can you share what city in which this property is located?

Quote from @Jules Aton: I started investing in my late 20s during early 90s in up and coming inner city neighborhoods.

Also in Touristic cities like Paris there is a competition among tenants to get the LTR  appartment.

I did post the 'Demand to Comply' which he ignored, so now I can post the 'Notice to Terminate' and wait another 10 days.Yes, I have the notice of violations from the city and body cam from the officer. 

Quote from @Adam Macias: Wholesaling as it is today will be a thing of the past.It’ll truly be strange to even hear people and gurus trying to make big money off it.The more people try wholesaling but then end up not having an end buyer or cancelling contracts or trying weird things like novations, the more all of real estate will be regulated and cause requirements like licensing to be able to transact more than just your personal resident purchase.Which I don't know why hasn't happened sooner.Here's all the states (in red or yellow) requiring a license to wholesale or at least have started the process:Credit: REITipsterI think licensing and regulation is a beautiful thing that should happen if you plan to be an wholesaler and do more than one deal... which is going to be the case for anyone taking this business seriously.Or even it being regulated to need a real estate agent to do more than one deal outside of buying a personal residence.I've had plenty of failed attempts with agents in pursuit of wholesale deals and I know exactly why, it's not because the agent couldn't find me deals, it's just not practical to think there's opportunity for the numbers a wholesaler needs to make a profit on top of everyone else needing to these days.Because the only sellers who truly can sell at a deep enough discount are usually those who ran out of time and just didn't do something sooner with their situation.I know many coaches and gurus will disagree with me but there’s no regulations on youtube gurus and what they teach either.If we look at the current state of the market in hot cities, the availability of online resources to the average homeowner, how many deals can you possibly believe are available at 70% of ARV?

i have much higher expenses and more headaches of course, but cash flow is higher.most major tier 1 or tier 2 cities should have significant enough rental demand to be able to implement this strategy pretty successfully.