the only real variable to buying in a urban area is scummy tenants who dont pay or dont value there space and may wreck a carpet or put a hole in the wall here or there… Me and a buddy just bought a 2 unit on pleasant st in schenectady needing absolutely nothing but maaybbee paint for $3,000 up front and we assume taxes which are 11k… i dont give a fuuuckk if i get a scumbag tenant who ill have to evict here or there, having a 250k mortgage on my shoulders sucks (at least in my eyes)… At 14-20k a property which theres a TON of, you will NEVER loose money.
The flawless way to get the best of both worlds is to look in troy. Troy has the BEST eviction rules that i know of and may be a little more expensive then albany/schenectady/amsterdam but not by much. Troy is you dont pay you get 14 days and then get the fuck out, albany and schenectady can take months, but still, the bad doesnt out weigh the cost to profit ratio in my opinion.