Its really amazing I had one of my clients post add's for investors in numerous foreign country craigs list adds..

I don’t want a bidding war, thanks!

One thing you need to be sure of that it's just a low income not a war zone.

In the 30k range anything renting for more than $800 Is going to be a low income duplex.I own low income duplexes they are not in war zones & they make money but they do come with additional headaches as @Mike D'Arrigo has said.30-40k SFR renting between 700-800 are a lot less work.

When it comes to pensacola you want to stay away from west pensacola due to most of that being in your "war zones". 

Almost every single person that contested their home's assessed value before it was my turn had numerous printouts of other "comps" in their area from Zillow, and they were quickly informed that wouldn't cut it and their request to lower their property's assessed value was denied.However, when it was my turn I used actual recent sales (plus a recent appraisal) to prove my point and I won my case and had my property's assessed value lowered to what I requested. 

I have spent numerous hours studying the plaintiff and 3 party bidders in my county and have a great understanding of who they are and their buying behavior.

The most worrying part of rent control is not the numerical increase in rent, but that you can't evict tenants.

I try to follow the 50% and 2% rules, but find those deals are hard to come by unless in a war zone.

My hands are tied as far as working in the field is concerned (on active duty status for a couple more years) but I am looking at getting my RE license as it has been suggested numerous times.