Also, many in higher priced states are moving back home with parents since they simply cannot afford rents.There are two main driving forces pulling investors away.

No matter how you slice and dice it, you'll either eventually be forced to sell at a lower price, forced to buy at a higher price or both.

They were going to force me to get a longer lock with a higher lock fee if I didn't use their settlement company. 

I don't have a problem with having new features be fee-based (in fact I prefer it because it allows you to opt in or out and doesn't force you to pay for the added feature unless you want it; whereas if it were free then the costs of administering it would have to get rolled into the subscription price for everyone, whether they use it or not), but I would prefer if they would focus on fixing some of the minor issues with whatthey've alreadyrolled out first, rather than rolling out new stuff.

Some are in your control (you can force equity, you can increase NOI) some not (market forces, interest rates etc).

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

I see many people here are doing the work themselves... does the Land Bank force you to pull permits?

Everyone knows it so US Treasuries are over priced forcing yields down. 

Once I've built up a nice little empire I do intend to go back and upgrade these sorts of things in order to sell the buildings using forced appreciation.

I didn't approach this place with the quick exit strategy, but in theory, a reno+renters will force a pretty decent appreciation, so it could be done for sure.