Overall, I'm looking for an area that will provide a reasonable cap rate, decent population growth, and affordability.

I live in Pueblo West and work in Canon City, but I can't say I'm necessarily in love with either of those towns and am inclined to think Colorado Springs (which is a little farther for me but still within driving distance) may be a better market for either flipping houses or long term investing due to better schools, lower crime rates, faster population growth, more jobs, nearer to Denver, etc. 

One area is an up and comming area with great appreciation, the city is always growing, a train has just been built, the salary is above average and the city is always growing in population.

On average, we do want to in denser, more populated settings.I do agree that a huge number of baby boomers do not have enough saved to retire when they want to.

We focus on buying multi family properties and the markets we target (ATL being one of them) have strong job and population growth numbers for the next five years.

@Eric Michaels Yes it did LOLFor what it is worth Baltimore City has a population of 600k~ (I don't know about the number of properties) and about 10,000 properties go into the tax sale every year. 

If you find markets that have stable populations and rents you will be at even less risk if your numbers are good to begin with.

How do I know if it is in a good area, low crime, appreciating, increasing population growth, affordability, job growth, etc? 

Added stress and morally I think it's wrong because the pet population is out of control-- Why can't the animal be fixed? 

There is definitely a lot of competition for good deals.There is also still a lot of opportunity due to population and economic growth.You need to stay informed on developments that will make certain neighborhoods more desirable for people to live in.