looking to buy rental property in any state - 100k down, traditional financing

[Les Z.]

Hi all,

I've been looking to invest in rental properties for a bit of time. I am currently located in Illinois (Chicagoland). I looked around this area, however the taxes here range from 5k-12k on typical home which made me look out of state. Condos downtown are affordable, but that adds HOA and taxes can easily hit 8k.

I visited Farragut/Marryville TN.  Houses are still affordable (new construction especially), taxes are low, but I'm concerned if people really rent there (86% owner occupied).  Also thinking about visiting Nashville to check out properties and neighborhoods.

I've also looked at Washington state, but only houses under 500k are in Tacoma (56% owner occupied).  Chicago is similar, mid 400+ for a single or multi family, old construction, highest taxes.  In WA you can get new construction, but that is far away that I don't expect Seattle/Bellevue tech workers to live there.

My boss suggested Pittsburgh (emerging tech hub), my coworker is based out of Atlanta which seems to still have affordable houses and seems to have lots of tech jobs.  I work in tech so I'm naturally gravitating towards areas that have a lot of tech workers (lots of foreign workers renting).

Any ideas?  I can put down up to 100k, maybe even more and I can qualify for traditional financing.