Very different strategy but being a 90 min train ride away is good too.

It takes time if you start out with a small sum, years, but I can tell you the time goes quickly and enjoy the ride!

Growing up in Philadelphia I watched certain sections of "downtown" and adjacent blue-collar areas become gentrified, fashionable, and very expensive.It seems to me that this is a constantly occurring phenomena of revitalization.

Since I had already filed the taxes there wasn't much I could do but ride it out.

They're not going to be the top fashion statement, but they'll do the job. 

My belief is that if the tenants don't have to remember to pay rent each month and it happens automatically, I'm more likely to receive rent in a timely fashion.  

If you're not upside down on the loan, you can grab some equity there and purchase a cheap ride out right.

Just be ready for a bumpy ride the first few months, and then it should settle itself out. 

@Carlos Cardenas Carlos, the one tool you need is a good ol' fashioned telephone.

I've seen too many bank owned properties for sale that were a result of an investor who didn't have cash reserves to ride out a bad turn and wound up losing the whole property...