Nashville retirement / rental property

[Randy Davis]

My wife and I are beginning to plan for retirement, and would like to do that in Nashville as opposed to our home town of SLC. We are shooting for that to occur in abt 8 years. We've watched as the market in Nashville has grown significantly over the last 15 years, and feel like now is the time to take some action. Our financial position has improved significantly over last 5 years, and that along with the "vision" of actually having a tangible retirement plan are helping encourage our decision. 

We're not looking to make "income" in Nashville, but simply grow equity and hopefully cover expenses along the way. Part of our strategy is to put dollars at work "in market" as we've seen the Nashville real estate market outpace our home market and worry we'll have less buying power if we wait. It's also very exciting to just have some actual ties to what we already consider our 2nd home. 

Here are a couple of questions: 

1) a couple of years ago, when we first did some analysis we could easily make this cash flow positive.  However, with the city nearly fully eliminating new non-owner occupied short-term rentals AND the increase in interest rates, margins are looking much slimmer than before. We also have no interest in trying to manage this on our own remotely so we'll be looking for a property manager and expecting a 10%+ expense for this. So now we're torn with a strategy decision. Our preference is to look at a stand alone suburban property that fits our ultimate needs even if we have to cover some cost ($200-$300/mo) out of pocket as opposed to finding a condo or town home in an area that may be stronger from a rental standpoint. We would expect with the strength of the Nashville market that rental increases would improve this position over time, but it might take a few years. I realize from a pure financial standpoint that may not be an optimal decision, but on the other hand if we have to put $2-3K over the next few years to buy OUR ultimate house, is that really a bad idea? We can afford it, but are worried about other expenses/risks out there that may tap into our resources. Of course the other strategy is to go the pure financial route, finding the best rental from a financial perspective, and then worrying about finding our desired place once we're ready to make that leap. The transaction fee and hassle at that point would be the main deterrent from that approach. Thoughts? 

2) we're going to Nashville for 6 weeks starting first of May and are hoping to research locations, and identify specific properties...and hopefully make an offer. We're hoping to use a property manager to set a final rental price once a we acquire a property but how do we estimate that during the buying process?  Have talked to multiple real estate agents, and feel like I'm as in touch with the local rental market as they are. Since the Nashville real estate market is moving so quickly, I need a way to quickly estimate rental potential on the fly. Good properties are typically only on the market for a couple of days. I've tried zillow but find it doesn't bring in great comps and the filters are very limited. Is there another resource you'd recommend? I've seen facebook marketplace, and craigslist recommended. There is also rentometer for a fee, but I've heard mixed results. What's the best practice you use to evaluate rental income potential?

3) Also, I know there are many measurements used to evaluate the viability of a property - cash on cash return, ROI, Price/rental ratio, Cap rate, etc. Is there a primary measure you use? Yes, I'm a novice, but any advice or direction would be much appreciated.