Slumlords are cheap by nature and the longer they have owned the property, the more damage they have done / allowed to happen to it. 

There is not the huge year over year natural appreciation like in the big urban cities, however you can force appreciation with renovating and repositioning the asset! 

Its human nature and its okay to be scared.

@Evan Smeenge - Networking like you are doing is definitely one of the best ways to find someone who knows what they are doing, but oftentimes at least for me, finding a mentor (or even friend) in real estate came naturally by just hanging around the right people and being a good person.I've learned that I want to be around people with an abundance mindset and willing to share what they have learned because there is truly enough real estate out there for all of us.

The Qatari economy is very concentrated and entirely dependent on energy in the form of oil and natural gas. 

However when looking at a street there are a few obvious things like boarded up houses, a lot of graffiti (that is not artistic in nature), needles on the ground, uncared for lawn/walkways, people on porches drinking from brown bags, lots of adults up to nothing during the middle of the day (not working at jobs) etc. 

Use natural move outs to upgrade and raise rents.

Since you are asking on the BRRRR forum and I am a 100% BRRRR investor, here's my take: By their very nature most wholesalers work in a legal and ethical gray area. 

Appreciation, both forced and natural, principlal pay down is what creates wealth and covers major capex.

Depending on where you may be in the united States there are fires and floods  Fires both natural wild fires and home fires,  Floods can come in many forms as well and then there are the other natural disasters.