When you start to really analyze deals (and by that I mean plugging in ALL the line items on a property (income, expenses, financing cost) and doing the same after you've repositioned the property to give you an idea of how it will perform) you'll start to develop a "feel" for a property based on the #s, market, physical condition, etc.

There are numerous tenant support groups and charities that can provide you with rent on behalf of someone who is struggling.That being said, There are other citizens that will bring security and physical and chemical risk to you that you and your business will not be able to deal with.I wish you luck.

and if forming in those states will affect the ease in which I invest in my current state of FL (close proximity to AL as well) or my home state of Virginia. 

is in your low value asset rust belt mid west.. were your dealing with 10 to 20k houses in the first place. what value will they have if its some huge number to remediate  these items, I can  see a scenario were houses will just crumble to dust as they don't have enough physical and economic life in them.. 

It's bricks and mortar, not quantum physics.

I don't know the rules in your area, but you need to know them inside and out.I see 5% for physical vacancy, but what about economic vacancy?  

Sacramento main economic driver is it's proximity to the state capital, education, and a few other services jobs.

The physical and sexual abuses were beyond belief, and no one seemed to care because I was the mentally retarded, spazzy loser with no way to communicate, and most likely no one who would have cared if I could.I was told that my son would never walk or talk-and that is BEFORE he got sick- and he now, at 20 years old, owns his own home free and clear, teaches extremely basic code to Autistic children[ actually learning with them, not the sterotypical IT Autistic],is working on the third book in a fantasy adventure trilogy he is writing, has cleared most of the trails in the location that will one day be THE Autistic retreat center of the world, and he has already been approached about management there.  

Because we are local to the property I knew that is has always maintained a very high occupancy but just totally outdated and not very physically attractive.

As a newbie with very few folks around me physically that venture into this, you are keeping my optimism high while temporing my enthusiasm with healthy doses of logical reality.