Good contractors are in very high demand in my market.

Loans are taking forever to process now (massive surge in demand, staffing is down).

This is a tricky time to purchase but there are some benefits - i.e. low interest rates, properties sitting on the market due to COVID, and anticipated high rental demand since FHA has tightened up lending requirements.We haven't seen much of a decline in rental inquiries for the apartments we are listing.

Housing supply doesn't decrease therefore you have more supply than demand. 

In NJ for example we have the Jersey Shore that demands high weekly rents about 3 months out of the year. 

In general, unless you know the area well, and know there is some demand, and simply no one knew about the vacancies, I would steer clear. 

You'll have to spend a lot of weekends working to revamp them, but there is a lot of demand once completed.

Many times it is not about "property values", "assessed or just values", or supply and demand", or in "good times or bad times".

I expect a huge demand which is always the case in my area.I will not do an open house as usual.

It seems to me that the flip rate, i.e. the percentage of home sales that are flips, can be a useful measure in taking the "temperature" of a market and as a supply/demand indicator.