It has been vacant for several years and is in major disrepair.

A good friend is a major tax lien buyer and we converse frequently, I occassionally buy in on one of his deals or buy property from him.Also I buy (and have bought) a good bit of junk real estate and property tax issues and how to deal with them are frequently part of the deal.Glad to help if I can.

Those who are individuals may shift to some diversification into real estate but for the vast majority real estate isn't even on their radar, thankfully.

Looks like you have the landlording part started.I grew up with real estate: so the understanding the market is ingrained from following my mom by watching her.I read a lot of investment book, majored in finance, did bookkeeping..Worked as RE agent for a few month (Asia)What I didn't know was: flipping : had to do one to understand Land lording: my flip didn't flip so learnt land lording on the fly Buy/selling: learnt each project from everyone involved from seller/buyer to inspectorsFinancing: learnt on each project just by talking to brokers/mortgage/bankNew construction : chose to work with builder on live in flip.

That might have been a major mess-up!

I say 3 years because the majority freshman stay in dorms or are home with mom and dad.

No major companies have come or gone in the last 15-20 years.

Having the city so close by has made it very easy to rent - I've never had more than a month-long vacancy in five years of being a landlord, and that's if I spend the majority of that time getting the place ready for new tenants.

When viewing the house there seemed to be major water damage from the top floor.

If everything checks out and there is no major maintenance issues, it seems like it would be a good property.I would also ask to seller to see the terms of the lease with the tenant.