House is worth about $45k on paper and $25k cash, neighborhood is not the best but in my research anything otc is not going to be in beverly hills and those houses hardly ever go to a tax sale and when they do it goes for almost retail... 

I have some nice 175K SFR's in nice neighborhoods that will appreciate, but the cash flow isn't as much as these cheap units.  

I think it's a great idea to buy in your own neighborhood. 

Any neighborhoods to look in?

I have a graphic designer wife and also spent a lot of time and effort branding my previous service business looking for a singular design and style across all media.

Be sure to take some time to really drive around neighborhoods in these areas, as the east side of the river is still really hit or miss with pockets of drugs and otherwise trashy/ sketchy areas.

For me it may be 60+ community of B or C class in B or better neighborhoods with value add such as rents 20%+ below market rates.

In this market you could buy any run down house in a good neighborhood.

@Patrick Daniel my agent turned on automated mls emails based on the neighborhoods i'm targeting. other than that, no other criteria is being used. so if i already have an agent that accesses the mls, how does that help me get good comps and arv?

I really want to tour the properties I already own as well as get to know some of the neighborhoods that I'm looking at online daily.