Thoughts on buying a rental property in town outside major city?

[John L. Jass]

I am wanting some input on buying our first property in a smaller town (that I grew up in) 25 miles from a major city? The small town has been growing in GDP every year and is expected to grow another 35% over the next 10 years. It has a ton of popular fast-food chains in the city as well and a few major big box stores. The school district is great and like I said in the title it is close to a major highway that leads straight to downtown San Antonio. I have called a few local agents and property managers to get a feel for the market and have heard very good things for the city. We plan on "house hacking" our way into our first rental property using a 203k loan. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.