It's a sum of physical vacancy, loss-to-lease (how much is current rent is below the market), and bad debt.

They are physically about the same distance from Allen. 

One way to stand out , instead of direct mailing them or something, is to physically go to these houses, knock on their door, and offer to help them avoid foreclosure.

Physical vacancyEconomic vacancy Loss to lease Are these allowances  applied to rent income + other income or only rent income to determine effective rental income/operating income? 

@Rosemary Rendon Typically you will not be able to do a physical inspection simply because there might be people living in the home that do not even know about the auction.

So we are not tied to any physical location.

Check out events https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521-events-and-happenings for St Loius online or physical location meetups 

Hi Jason,Just some random thoughts on this to bring your knowledge up a little.Everyone is different in how they do this--sometimes the lender will dictate certain amounts for certain things.Some people ride motorcycles without a helmet, some always wear seat belts.It also depends on how deep you pockets are, a Policeman owning the same SFH as a Brain Surgeon might want to have more set aside just in case.Some make a CAPEX, list for their guesstimates of CAPEX outlays based on the HUD guidelines in years of service life remaining for each item.But in (for instance) areas of high winds, things like roofing replacements and insurance reimbursements complicate this.You need to budget for turn cost, and wear and tear also, (re: wear and tear; carpet physically wears out over time, vs. renter spilling red paint on it--where you would charge that to the renters security deposit).The costs in the future will either come from the renter or come from YOU, vacancies, wear and tear, equipment failures, etc...The ones that will come from you, need to be budgeted for--unless you have deep pockets and the amounts seem frivolous to your expendable income and you believe you can just cover them easily.Some people can afford to buy their secretary a new car for her birthday, some have their families huddling around the table eating one can of cold beans for dinner--Ole' one can of beans might not be able to meet the financial needs of CAPEX when it comes due unless he sets it all aside ahead of time.Good Luck!

I will only rent to someone that I can physically see.

I remember books on tape, physically going to the courthouse to research evictions / defaults  and placing for rent ads in the newspaper.