Generally, these will be lower income neighborhoods which already had problems.BUT, for those neighborhoods which had a strong support base and higher incomes, they could afford to have a volunteer Fire Dept, hire private security to drive the neighborhood, and keep the quality of their education for the kids up via private schools, which are generally expensive.When the down turn happens, richer families which sought to save money and chosed to live in the lower income neighborhoods, find themselves leaving the lower income neighborhoods and moving to the safer, higher income neighborhoods.

Properties in the lower cost areas may look better on paper but once you factor in vacancy, true turn over costs, and cap ex, things don't look as good.I have been in a few nice multi-family properties in oildale but most are pretty rough and have major issues with deferred maintenance. 

Covington north of 10th street is Justin like OTR imo- with lower price points and still lots of room for growth. 

The one outside Goog the owner did not wanting to lower the price citing his mortgage has to break it even.

Townhomes can appear in a pro forma to show a lower return, but holding long term returns are much higher than a single family home. 

I would be responsible for upper and lower (which I would be occupying) utilities that average 300/month.

However as the loan is paid off your return becomes lower and lower approaching the cap rate. 

But if you go with core/satellite portfolio construction (i.e. most of your investment should be in things that are conservative, with a smaller satellite portion in riskier things) then I think this is a great core holding.2) hard money loans: when underwritten conservatively (65% LTV or lower, no judicial-only states, first lien, etc), they can be a very good defensive investment in the downturn.

Since I was a strait A and B student that came from a lower class family, I got all of my college expenses paid for.

refinance can be re-structuring the loan. it can be lower rate, longer term, lower term, or lower payment which depend on what you want.