Look for knob and tube wiring, drum traps, glass fuses etc old oil heating system.It will definitely have lead paint so you'll have to be conscious of who you rent to.

20 years ago nobody was seeing Pennsylvania as an oil & gas producing state, today there are known reserves of a 100 year supply.All you can do is the best that you can do, looking at areas with low crime rates, good schools and prospects for growth.All you can do...is all you can do! 

@Charles D Cruz the $20k on rehab comes from:Windows/ exterior doors: $7,000 contractor will do this work.Appliances: $3,000Cabinets/kitchen floor: $7,000 New furnace: $3,000 (need to get rid of the fuel oil furnace and switch to NG)I know someone mentioned the cabinets just need to be painted but they are to far gone for that.

I grew up in Niceville, 5 minutes from Destin, and remember well the havoc that a hurricanes caused the tourist economy once every 5 to 10 years (not to mention the occasional oil spill... actually, a lot of people got pretty big payouts from BP by essentially submitting a crayon drawing on a paper plate-- a lady I know was paid about 25K for "lost business wages."

Professionally, I'm a Lead HES Consultant for Marathon Oil Company in North Dakota.

Some things Houston offers that are so hard to find in any other markets:Critical mass (4 th largest city and still growing fast)Low cost of entry and housing cost 30% below other large cities  (buy a $150K house that rents for $1,500/mnth)Diverse and resilient economy and population** passed NYC for most diverse city int he nation last year, Lost >80,000 oil and gas jobs in last 2 years and still put on more jobs than we lost (highest employment rate in city's history today)   Still great TK opportunity here, I work with them everyday ;-)Houston (and TX) are creating jobs as fast or faster than any other area, this is drawing people to the area, they need housing, there is a shortage of available, affordable,  quality housing.

I work in the oil and gas business, and have seen the impact to individuals over the last few years.  

The town is very small, 2500, with a junior college (enrollment 750), hospital and mining/quarry/oil/gas industry.

I would say as far as any other specifics, I want to get multifamily units 6 units and above and start doing single family homes for flipping but I have never dealt with the oil heating units that they have out there and that scares me because I do not want find out how much that cost to fix them and have that put me in a bad situation.

Hedge funds should have their money out of (or moving out of) real estate and into the oil patch.