Overall, you can easily find properties that meet the 1% rule even on the MLS, but obviously it won’t be in A neighborhoods.

With Easter so close I bet you could easily find some daffodils or tulips in bloom already planted in a pot.

I was getting $1,200/month in rent and I was self employed and had family in the area (with their own rentals) so small maintenance items were easily handled. 

Even if state property tax is low, county property taxes for a metro can easily push it through the roof 

Getting a  heloc on the  condo wont be  possible  (  very  easily ) as most heloc lenders are not willing to do helocs on rentals ...... fees to get  the heloc in place  will be  zero or close to zero and  you are charged interest on it only when you  pull money from it ...good luck

Idaho is also great for OOS investing as it is very landlord friendly and easily accessible from San Diego.

If they are professional, they can explain this quickly and easily.

Ian, I'd also ask for a live walkthrogh via facetime, skype, etc as these pictures can easily be repurposed time and time again (not saying that they are in this case, but these things do happen).

If you were in the area or if you have someone that really knows the market in the area you could take that gamble and it may pay off but just as easily it could leave you selling for half of what you purchased it for in 5 years.Now my final disclosure, BEFORE YOU BUY ANYTHING in Port Huron you need to go read the new zoning rules that the local government has passed that no longer allows rentals in certain neighborhoods as well as the landlording regulations that require rental certificates and inspections.I do want to let you know that when I started investing in Port Huron in '09 I had hoped to buy bad houses in the Hospital / College area, fix them up and rent them to stabilize that community.

We thinks I could easily "Force" the sale of the house, or at leaste my 50% on paper.