And definitely agree on the older/poor housing stock but that leaves opportunity for something half decent.

A bad renter could easily eat up any benefits and drive you into the poor house. 

I know a few people who got filthy rich with commercial real estate and I know a few who went to the poor house.

Pros: Rent is always guaranteedCons: Tenants can be poor house keepers and repairs may be needed more oftenThat's literally all that I know in regards to this topic.

If you are new or newer to real estate, note that large mail drops are expensive, provably inefficient and ineffective unless targeted, and likely a fast way to the poor house when a big ad-spend delivers no results.

If I scaled it down one more time to a $14k house renting for $40, all of us would be in the poor house.

This is the product of a bunch of years run up in the market, too many people watching HGTV shows and think it is so easy, and the gurus selling their BS programs suggesting to newbies to start wholesaling as their first go at investing since it can be done with no money, no credit, no brains, and no skills.You are now seeing and receiving the product of these circumstances first hand, good luck stopping it yourself, only a nice stiff market correction sending many to the poor house will stop it for a bit, then the cycle will repeat again.

It is a geographically strapped area south of San Jose/Silicon Valley, with very limited and poor housing supply coupled with an unpopular local planning agency that is not customer service oriented because of restrictions on population density and water resources, etc.At this point in our lives, we cannot just pick up and move our jobs to another state. 

Even then, if you are moving to an area you are not already VERY familiar with and already have a RE network in place, your best bet would likely be sell or rent your Santa Clarita property and rent in the new market for 1 year to get the lay of the land, build your network, and take your time to find a great deal.Finally, "expensive" does not necessarily equal over valued, just as "more affordable" does not necessarily equal under valued ... this is RE valuation 101, and you should learn it a bit more before making any investments, otherwise you may end up arbitraging yourself to the poor house.

They don't like slumlords or poor housing conditions.