There are very attractive, established, neighborhoods in the Bronx, but there are also areas that are still crime ridden and economically depressed.

He said your best to stay out of the city rentals and here's the reason's.First you will pay a 4% transfer tax on city homes, normally for most other areas in PA it is 2% transfer tax.Second he claimed 70% of the cities population are Hispanic who for this city have a reputation of drug use, and have a track record of not treating property well and often will get behind on rents.Third he claimed 80% of the city is on welfare, all the big companies have move out of the area making it a poor city economically to invest inFrom our conversation I said where the 8 homes were located and they were all in bad neighbourhood's or blocks.

Its also important to note that within this category there are many product types and economic specializations (industrial, medical, office).

There may be another economic event coming, who knows?

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.. 

Atlan - you of course need to understand the economics of any deal and the location. 

Seminole Heights is an area that I can tell you off the top of my head that is experiencing some gentrification.Here's a few links that you might find useful:http://www.tampaedc.com/http://www.tampagov.net/economic-and-urban-development/programs/community-redevelopment-areas

As a rule seniors tend to take much better care of their homes and come from a much more stable and predictable socio economic strata.

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?  

So long as you know the risks associated with your decision, then feel free to go for it.Keep in mind, cities are adaptable when it pertains to ecological or economic disasters.