You'll need to do your due diligence on the HOA to make sure it's healthy and allows rentals. 

But I'm a listing Broker and I am Chasing Listings-absorption rate will tell you if the "market" is healthy (6 mo's inventory). the idea of a health market is that if no other homes come to market, all the homes will sell, and there wont be any left in 6 months.to calculate absorption rate take the # of sales in the past 6 months, Divide by 6 = Average sales per month/ average monthly sale (AMS)then Divide the AMS by # of Active homes on the Market = absorption rate.OR take # active homes / AMS = Months of inventoryHope that is Helpful. or at least interesting-

In some places dirt cheap home made word print offs that are poorly formatted will get you deals.

HAve a healthy and prosperous 2023

I offered $20,000 more than the next best offer, additionally helped them negotiate down a $20,000 lien to $6,000, and still made a healthy profit. 

@Brandon SturgillI was halfway tempted to not respond due to the fact that this post couldn't have been formed for a healthy intellectual debate.

Besides the excitement about affordable property values and some young people taking advantage of this affordability, what are the real driving factors that will carry these markets forward and ultimately transform them into healthy, sustainable areas?

Inflation normally accompanied a healthy economy with low unemployment.

I learned that I underestimated the cost of the bills I would but the predicted cash flow was healthy (3x the monthly cash flow on average).  

I think if you'll run the numbers and do some research you find these markets to be a healthy alternative to other markets for buy and hold real estate.I can't imagine being invested in real estate and only getting a 10% return either.