At this point, and I have barely scratched the surface of learning the neighborhoods, most of the properties I have driven by (due to the attractive purchase price) have been in areas I would hesitate to invest in as they are particularly run down.

I have a methodology that has helped me cash flow on all my properties since my first property acquisition (85k property, aquired for 67k, total closing costs 950.00)Before making an offer on a property put it's address in www.rentometer.com to get the market rents, cross reference that info with a conversation with a highly successful area realtor and let that data guide your purchase decisions and you will always cash flow.

You should be able to generate similar data for all the cities you are considering in an evening.At this point you are probably down to two or three cities.

Or the methodology of how they are handling the information is just wrong.

Condos can still bring in positive cash flow from my experience as investors haven't driven up the prices on these like on sf.

They do Equity % better than any of large data provider, and they are one of the only sources where you can split out the in- & out-of-state absentee owners.As far as why other sources are cheaper?  

Data and a interview with players in that market can get you closer to the right answer.  

I have been talking to other agents about pulling a one time data out of the MLS and even with a step by step explanation they cant figure it out or dont want to take time to do so.

Migrating your data to a newer platform is a terrible and disruptive transition.

I see continued growth over the next couple of years, driven by quality job and population growth.