If crime and safety are issues, then work on helping neighbors communicate better.If the area is safe but burdened with a bad rep, the work on promotion.If the area is doing fine but abandoned, then make sure good news storied get picked up in local media.I wrote an entire book on the topic.

Glad it is not too bad! 

You will likely need documentation from the Attorney General or equivalent of your country confirming you're not a bad actor with felonies, etc, back home.

-------------------Think about my father when you think about how badly you need 20 grand and how unimportant acquiring the knowledge to make successful real estate investments is.

It’ll hold up for a season but over time it’s going to start to look bad.

Bad credit precludes lenders that you suggest.. 

If you send your mail using standard mail with no return postage, you have no way of measuring how many addresses were bad.

Buying properties in bad areas?

Stay away from the bad areas-haha-and screen your tenants extra well.

You won't find much in the sub $100K space unless you don't mind 50ies or 60ies shack that needs everything and is located in a bad area.Why do you oppose to mortgages?