If you select good tenants, manage them, and get good luck then you could make money.

You're selecting each individual tenant.

If lot of properties are vacant and available for rental then it's not a good area for rental, and randomly select the vacant properties see a) How good is the property  at least in the photos, i know the virtual photos always don't speak for the reality b) How long this has been in the market.

If you select an area, speaking to a local bank, they are dedicated to an area and many investors are getting some sweet deals on lines of credit.

I don’t necessarily have the analytical genius several gentlemen did before my comment, but, I don’t know that there has to be a polarizing & binary selection process between cash flow and appreciation.

I taught site selection for CCIM Institute for about 8 years so I truly understand the technical side of demographic analysis.

How do you select a good cleaner?

Steve, thanks for the feedback; in some areas competition is limited, so it's possible I'm stuck with negotiating :(     I did find another PM option, so I'll work with both and select the best one. 

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I know the crime maps are all over the place in Norfolk so I would probably have to be very selective.