Memphis, Birmingham, El Paso?

[Sachin Soni]

Hello all,

A brand new investor here, reading the firuns here and am super impressed at all the wealth of information and the helpfulness of everyone. I've owned multiple homes for our family but have never invested outside for rentals and am now in the market. I've read the ultimate guide and the rental book that have been recommended. I'm also going to build a team but I'm trying to figure out the best area to buy. My home city is in CA and in the silicon valley, so thinking of investing out of state. I'm mainly looking for cashflow .. eventually 10K/month, some appreciation would be nice and I'd like to do this in 8 to 10 years... so I should get started.:)

Questions:

1. After reading, I feel I need to pick between Memphis, Chattanooga, Birmingham and El Paso. These seem to be fairly solid rental markets and have appreciation (mainly El Paso). What are your thoughts? Am I misssing a key area(I heard Lehi, UT and South Bend, IN) but they seemed to have lot of rental inventory. Once I nail this down, I'll be looking to build a team and buy from a whole seller or off market.

2. I'm thinking of starting with a multi family (upto 4 units) as it is lesser of a hassle for loans and tenenacy and  such. Am I biting of more than I can chew?

3. Are the 1% rules and the 50% rules still applicable in today's market?

I'm sure I'll have more questions but thus is a start. Thanks in advance for the help.