Picking a market to invest in

[Matt Har]

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are looking to get into real estate investing. The plan is to buy a couple buy and hold single family homes that maximize cash flow and hopefully appreciate nicely over time, and continue to add to our portfolio over time. 

We currently live in NYC and don't see any interesting investments in this area (please let me know if you know of any) so are looking to rent out of state and find a reliable property manager. I grew up in Boulder and have family in the area so we're looking at somewhere along the front range as our best option at the moment. 

So here are my two questions:

1) when analysing a market/city/neighborhood what are the 5 or 6 primary metrics we should be focused on (price to income ratio, population trends, unemployment, etc)

2) What are some suggestions for great markets to start investing in now? Ideally markets that are not already overpriced. 

Thanks!