Using it to make loans to rehabbers is, IMHO, a better alternative than actually owning real estate in an IRA.You might look into a Solo 401k.

While there is a reliance on 'welfare' or entitlement still exists (to a large degree), I wouldn't discount the area as a whole as it seemingly has done better than the 'hot' markets during the downturn...I do understand Syracuse (and Buffalo) aren't doing as well as Rochester overall but I think even Syracuse has ranked high on the rent to returns chart, probably due to the welfare nature as well. 

Naturally, you would have to talk to the seller to find out how far behind in payments they are. 

Alternatively to running your risk model with high vacancy you might want to consider running it with a low rent number that would guarantee very high occupancy.

The alternative is to cover it with thin drywall, a veneer of sorts.

I've recently been looking at alternative ways to target potential investors and I just wanted to run this across BiggerPockets and see if what i'm doing is a good idea.

Alternatively, if you can find an investing partner or even your own cash to "co-invest" that will work, and may be better than completing the sale with leverage. 

. • Seminars and blog answers (like the one I am writing) are general in nature and may not apply to a specific local because each local is unique when it comes to investing.

Make sure you put on there that it is a cash sale or investor property something of that nature. 

Naturally, you'll pass the best tenant-buyer candidates to your mortgage guy and let him tell you who he can get a loan for the fastest.On the other side of the coin, if you have a seller who doesn't care about the loan staying in their name, they just want OUT, and the house payment has a lot of cashflow each month and maybe not much equity, then you can relax a bit more and deal with a wider pool of tenant-buyers, buyers, or even renters!