Look hard and buy cheap - screw loans or mortgages
Other comment is - don't think the suns shines out of the ass of your locality - the world is a big place and there are still loads of really good real estate deals around - often at prices that would blow your eyeballs out.
I can think of one that over the last year has multiplied the original investment 17.5 times, tho you are not likely to find that dealing with a load of realtors :-)