Threatening to sue me for something frivolous will get the tenant on my undesired list and has yet to result in an actual suit. 

He inherited a bit of a mess from the previous owner (bedbugs, undesirable tenants, and deferred maintenance), but we're getting things straightened out. 

A 401k loan has some risks...get layed off and have to pay it back or pay the 10% early penalty as well as income taxes if you cannot.A self-directed IRA is the typical retirement savings vehicle to invest in RE but it has undesireable attributes too.If you are young, you could diversify internationally or dip a little into emerging markets....they are not as highly valued.

Hats off to tech and research for bringing a lot of new life to the area.I know that new home sales in greater Allegheny County have been moving much quicker since the housing market regained its feet, and seem to be turning over with a lot of force, so it's likely that neighborhoods peripheral to ones that are currently revitalizing might themselves undergo a bit of a renaissance not far down the line.

In the few days I followed, I saw 10 to 15 properties sold to 3rd party bidders (daily), but the majority of those were either in undesirable areas or sold at a price that left little to no margin for an investor.  

The entire area should be leveled in order to drive out the undesireables and the problems they bring with them.

We take this very seriously as this defrays having undesirable occupants.

If I raise the rents, I might run into the unfortunate situation of having high turn over within a short time and that will put me in an undesirable financial situation,especially when I am pouring in large amounts of cash into rehab. 

Hey BP community,My name is Nick, I have been bouncing around the peripherals of BP since I did my first webinar on the BRRRR strategy back in October 2016 with Brandon (go PNW - land of beards and beers).

@Charmaine M. marked rembert does raid some good points but for a buy and hold if you wait and search for the right deal you could do very will in Jamaica even south ozone park simply because I remember before I moved out of nyc I had friends living in what was affordable but undesirable areas like bush wick east New York and Canarsie....