Terry:One of the reasons that taxes are so high in relation to the value of the property is that the properties are worth significantly less than in other parts of the country.2% taxes on a $1mm property are 20k a year...Taxes on a $80k property at 2% would only be $1,600  a year.Another HUGE problem is that a LOT of these mid-western cities have BLOATED government structures....they are burning money on education, they have a LOT of retired workers with underfunded pensions, they have LOTS of current workers that are not very efficient.It is a huge problem that is going to get bigger/more attention in the near future.  

@Austin FoxAustin, I own multiple properties with cast iron stacks up here in western PA, all built well before 1963.

All those transactions need to be questionned even more deeply when the selected foreign countries don't follow western practices. 

We get lots of interest in larger family homes in the western burbs throughout the year, many for 30-120 night stays.

I often thought we should get the activists to flip the script and demand that SF homeowners be capped at a 10% increase on resale due to the outcry about people unable to afford the proverbial "American home ownership dream."

After searching for a real estate agent in Houston on Biggerpockets I keep getting responses from people from New Western Acquisitions.

I don't know of any hedge funds myself, but majority of my deals would go to New Western.

@Nathan G.Books read in 2019:1) Getting Things Done2) Antifragile3) The Big Short4) The War on Normal People5) Good to Great6) The Gift of Fear7) 19848) Long Distance Real Estate Investor9) The Story of Kodak10) The E Myth: Revisited11) Trend Following: How Great Traders Make Millions in Up or Down Markets12) The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs13) What Every Real Estate Investor Need to Know About Cash Flow14) The Book on Managing Rental Properties15) Set for Life16) The Millionaire Next Door17) Zero Risk Real Estate: Creating Wealth Through Tax Liens and Tax Deeds18) Real Estate Loopholes19) Market Wizards20) Rich Dad Poor Dad21) Sleepy Hollow22) The Personal MBA23) On Tyranny2020 Reading List:-Wealth of Nations-The Organization of Industrial Scientific Research-Toms River-In Love and War-Skin in the Game-Extreme Ownership-Best Ever Apartment Syndication Book-Finance for Nonfinancial Managers-The Muller Report-All Quiet on the Western Front-Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance And whatever else catches my eye...

With that being said, we do not actively avoid certain areas because you'll find the overall economy in central Indy is doing very well for a number of investment strategies, including buy and holds.However, if I'm being honest, the areas that typically detour us and make us take additional time to assess and run numbers are primarily the eastern and western skirts (i.e. 38th street on either side) of the circle as you'll find slightly higher crime rates and you'll see a larger demand for rent-ready properties than for fix and flips necessarily.It just depends on how long you are willing to wait for those c/d class neighborhoods to appreciate - which is where that advantage of the buy and hold strategy comes into play again.

Lake Erie is a huge resource and the both the Cleveland Clinic and (case western) university hospitals are world class medical facilities.