Newbie looking for a market to invest in! How do I pick one?

[Brian Lewis]

So here's the thing. I've been listening to biggerpockets podcast on my commute to work almost everyday for the past 6 months. I thought I would learn something to help me get started. A few books and MANY podcasts later I still find myself stuck. I'm so ready to "jump right into this thing" as @Joshua Dorkin always says but I'm stuck in analysis paralysis. 
Here's where I stand. I have 60K saved and a 750+ credit score. I've been preparing for this for over a year saving and babying my credit and bumping credit limits to put myself in this position. 
I want to purchase rental properties but living in NYC, everything is so expensive!!! A multifamily in my area goes for like 800k! 
I really want to purchase multi family home in another market. I'm open minded and flexible. I have no wife or kids and I'm willing to get up and go ANYWHERE in the US(maybe internationally if it makes sense). Ideally I'd house hack but I have dreams of owning apartment buildings in the long run with 10 or more units. I need some help getting started. So with all that said here's my question. 

How do you guys analyze MARKETS??? Because I'm open to any market, i don't actually know WHERE I want to invest. If i had a market, I know that I would then speak to different lenders and realtors to help me find my deals. I like Atlanta GA because I have friends and family there and it seems like a place I wouldn't mind living. I'm trying to find more than one market to start my search though just to keep my options open. So again, how do you guys analyze markets. Like if I were to look at the contiguous US as a whole, how would you narrow down your location in which to invest? What resources do you use? I've heard of people looking at populations and jobs growth and inventory levels. Is there a way to see this info for multiple states at once so I can kinda get a macro view of the country??? I just want to hear what kind of strategies you use when deciding on a market to invest in.

[Mike O'Connor]

@Brian Lewis there are a ton of indicators that you can look at, and you named a few. However, and you mentioned it in your post, don't get paralyzed by your analysis. The objective of your rental strategy it sounds like is cashflow (you are specifically citing multifamily). Don't overthink it - determine what your return expectations are and start looking at specific properties and running the numbers. If it makes sense, dive in! You need to make sure that you know the area you are working in well (you can talk to people who work in the market) to make sure you aren't buying in bad pockets, but there are tons of investors working in many of these large cities already, so there must be some upside to it.

Atlanta, for example, is a great city that still has great returns when compared to other major markets. Just like other cities, you need to be careful as the city is block by block and street by street. However, tons of institutional money is being pumped into the city, and those guys are doing there homework!

Give me a shout if you'd like to talk about the Atlanta market. I'd be happy to chat through it / multifamily with you.

Mike