From my experience, living in Florida and California for the last decade, the "nicer" areas around the cities in the northeast tend to be smaller and less defined with the "problem areas" scattered about. 

I just had a conversation this week about how I feel like a squirrel with 10 acorns scattered around me and I keep running from one to the other but get none of them back to the tree.

There are scattered homes on big lots in the surrounding area which have values of 100K+ including one home at over $1,000,000!

Working without a good framework will likely leave you feeling scattered, and lacking direction.

I spoke to a lender yesterday in the area and he said that he came across properties all over that rents dropped 40%(not all but scattered around). 

Like in NJ, there are tons of small cities scattered around NC. 

HOWEVER, telling someone that they can retire next year if they just buy 10 homes scattered across the country (and we've all already addressed the fact that there's no way they actually work in that many markets, they get a referral fee from local providers) is reckless. 

A couple other areas that I would look at are older neighborhoods that have been or are being revitalized as they usually have a couple complexes scattered throughout them as well.

Not practical for a scattered site portfolio of 1,000+ rental units.

Best of all, I no longer feel scattered when communicating with tenants!