Is there something that makes this lot desirable or undesirable?

It’s clear that the companies dominating this space are keeping the best deals for themselves, leaving only the undesirable properties for the open market.

I use a similar method to what Bruce uses to eliminate undesirable properties then I drive by anything I might bid on and put my eyes on each and every property.

I've seen gentrification spread right up to a block of S8 buildings, and then go around that block leaving it right where it was and will probably always be (undesirable). 

When I hear "affordable" I always think, undesirable since price is always based on supply and demand.

Examples of pitfalls include purchasing in an undesirable area, not understanding the market values (vs. list prices), not knowing the rental values (current and market), inheriting bad tenants, buying a lemon, going rogue on renting and management with no contacts / systems / no legal understanding of PA and Municipal landlord-tenant laws, not having trusted resources and contractors in place, using out of state lenders or shaky financing, throwing lipstick on a pig when renovating a house and wondering why it's ARV isn't increasing, tenants are renting, etc.

Meaning, if you own a larger portfolio and 1 property is experiencing undesired returns.

I was thinking that the assessed value might help weed out the very undesirable properties/areas, though I haven't really looked into the assessed values of the properties in the rougher areas.

Military housing is at high occupancy on-post, making various home displacements more common off-post in hotels or short term rental homes.Small multi-family homes vary in neighborhood types, but the majority of them (but not all) are in a low to middle class area, raising the chances of getting unappreciative or undesirable tenants.As I mentioned earlier, I have no properties and only watch the market for now.

Examples of pitfalls include purchasing in an undesirable area, not understanding the market values (vs. list prices), not knowing the rental values (current and market), inheriting bad tenants, buying a lemon, going rogue on renting and management with no contacts / systems / no legal understanding of PA and Municipal landlord-tenant laws, not having trusted resources and contractors in place, using out of state lenders or shaky financing, throwing lipstick on a pig when renovating a house and wondering why it's ARV isn't increasing, tenants are renting, etc.