I don't know enough about Tampa but that may be another good spot with an Air Force presence.  

We have a vacant unit and a woman is very interested, but has a large German Shepard, who is (and I quote what the lady said) "she wants to be everyone's friend and is very sweet".

A cabinet over the stove with a microwave outlet is a great spot.  

There is a sweet spot with house hacking homes where you can afford to pay a little more than.

In Charleston we have been buying spot and 3 to 5 here and there.. so have 11 going there.

You would think Pittsburgh would be the spot as well....location is great....but it isn't for the same reasons....crime.  

I wouldn't pull their credit.What @Brit Foshee said is spot on.Perhaps check the property records to see if they purchased a property.

Spot on!

I think your assessment is spot-on, and scottsdale is a tough one to make work with lower-end stuff, and especially SFR.  

You are missing the most important thing you can buy yourself,an education.You need to meet with professional wholesalers who have been doing this successfully for some time and ask them how they do it.Apprentice yourself to them for free doing their ground pounding work learning the business as a young college student intern would.Learn how to put together a large list of cash buyers and flippers who need the properties you find to sell them.Learn how to carve out a good territory to farm that has several homes sold in the last two years for top dollar prices and sold the fastest (less than 30 days).Learn how to use postal workers,utilities people,and others to spot bad houses that might be able to be bought cheap.Use high school students involved in sports teams or band to seed your farm with cards and fliers door to door at every property and give them a tax deductible donation to their groups.Promise them a bigger wad of cash if you sell a house they bird dog for you(tax deduction!).