Looking for first buy and hold rental in the Houston area

[Phiroze Neville Divecha]

Hey BP community! First post here..I've been soaking up all this community has to offer for a few months, but a bit hesitant to reach out to ask for help. I'm jumping in. I'm going to buy my first buy and hold single family home this year, but a little unsure of how to move forward.

I've spoken to 3 lenders, narrowed down my price range, and what I'm looking for in a house, but am unsure of what area to look at. Right now I am looking all around Houston, but it's a bit daunting.

I've analyzed around 50 properties, but not sure how to narrow down the search since right now I'm just kinda looking everywhere.

Should I be narrowing down a zip code or 2, or just looking more generally?

Any and all feedback is welcome! Tell me I'm doing this all ***-backwards if needed - here to learn.

Thanks in advance.

[Toby Auer]

I am in the same scenario, you beat me to the post for advise. I have a realtor that gave me a few recommendations on areas in Houston to invest in, so today I went to those areas to find out the zip codes. Then from there I used the BP insights to get rent estimate for those zip codes. Out of those 3 recommended areas I saw that for 3 bed 2 bath, 77018 gets the highest rent, followed by 77009, then 77051. Those aren't the same order for a 2 bed 1 bath. I am trying to narrow my search so I am going with the 3/2. I am fairly new to real estate as well, so I am excited to hear what other responses you get.