Honestly, I didn't do much research into alternatives so can't give you a good comparison.  

We are investors in Charlotte, NC and having come from NYC maybe every state is landlord friendly in comparison, but we certainly appreciate the differences.

I checked Zillow, but there's a wide variety of prices in the area, and not a lot of photos for comparisons.

When looking for discounts, you want to look in comparison to other available properties in the market. 

by pricey you mean the interest rate charged on the mortgage loan in comparison to when doing it in Canada?

I wasn't very clear - I was asking about the comparison between ForeclosureRadar and the foreclosure link on the BP marketplace tab that Quarles referenced.

@Terry Portier is right in the comparison between free bids and free deal analysis.

Prices of homes in our area are too high in comparison to rents.

Your money will go a long way here by comparison to California.Public transportation is a work in progress.

I realize you use AC more in Houston than we do here, but for comparison purposes I am still on the original AC unit (Rheem) in my central heat/air house, and I've owned this house for 21 years and the house was 2 years old when I bought it.