My question is this, has anyone tried newspaper ads?

They both in the same city but opposite ends of the city, know the neighborhoods well, and am comfortable with them and the values they demand.An advantage I have in this transaction is that I will more than likely use a first time home buyer rate and only 5% down payment incentive program.

Learning the good and bad neighborhoods and their boundaries comes from talking with local lenders and loan brokers about where they like to lend and where they avoid.

I was talking to @Marc Littmann just the last night and we were discussing how the City of Denver shut down a VRBO house in my neighborhood.

Not the best neighborhood, but not war zone either.

. :) Definitely not a warzone, not in a floodzone either, just an older established neighborhood in a small town about 50 minutes south of Houston.

We try to stay out of neighbor hoods that have high crime.

If you are not familiar with the area, it's considered a pretty run-down, bad neighborhood in San Diego.

I am in Denver and my strategy has been older duplexes in great neighborhoods.

Some neighborhoods you can stand on a street and look both ways and see 3 or 4 houses under construction (infill developments) and most are already pre-sold before they finish completion.Now, obviously the OP and you were discussing areas up a little further in the county, and as you mentioned they are quite different than the areas I am talking about, but I think the biggest difference comes from people tired of the commute into DC from areas further out.