Would it be mostly undesirable properties in South of Chicago delinquent for 2-3 years?  

Unfortunately the bigger BP gets, the more trollers, the more scam artists and more Undesirable members will be joining our community, I wish that wasn't the case. 

It is undesirable and is a concern, but not as big a deal as it was in Northern California.

This is a difficult time to start out as a real estate investor IMHO because you can easily get stuck with an undesirable home.

@Daniel Hansen, Here's some that a small-time rental portfolio manager has in mind for systems.Rent Collection: Automate through ACH or Direct Deposit, as opposed to drive to the homes and collect rent checksMaintenance: Have a handyman "guy" or a crew that you can text and schedule, as opposed to run around to fix toiletsNeighborhood Watch: Make friends with the neighbors and have them alert you when there's undesirable events etc. going around the propertyProperty Management: If you choose this, have several property managers that you constantly keeping tabs on to help with management.

As long as it's undesirable there may be appreciation in small pockets (i.e taking a distressed property & flipping it) but the area in general will not appreciate.  

If you buy cheap houses that are in undesirable areas you will always struggle to find good tenants because no one wants to live there.

I think it all boils down to what is the potential for my view disappearing or something undesirable being built behind me.

That's just too much undue risk for me, especially if you're doing that in the more undesirable locations in the nation.

You don't need a realtor to find something for sale, you need a realtor to help you connect with deals that have yet to be listed (less competition, possibly lower peripheral cost to acquire).Anyway, I'm sure Gary Swank will be here soon.