Have a portfolio, and a few hundred thousand in cash; not sure on next step

[Ryan Evans]

Hi BP community! 

I am a real estate investor who in the last few years came around to investing as a way to make early retirement goals possible from a high stress job. I have been hesitant about parking my cash in any one particular asset, but I've been maxing my 401Ks and with a big bonus recently, I have about 250K~ in cash and not sure where I should be putting it

I currently have an income producing property in a major HCOL urban market at a 2.6% interest rate and produces about $1k/month in profit. I also have a two properties in a LCOL state that have about $50K each on their loans at about 8.5% interest and combined net me about $900 a month in profit. 

In total between my properties, I would make around $54,000/year; my goal is to make around $150K-200K/year in rental income before I'd be comfortable retiring from my day job

At this point I'm not sure what the next move for me is.  I've been looking at apartment complexes and it feels like they would get me the income I'm hoping for, but it feels like they are overvalued for the rent they bring in, and I'm not sure that's the right move, and even if it was the right move, I'm unsure where in the country I should be looking at. Aside from the LCOL state my family is from (and I don't feel comfortable parking all my cash there), I don't have strong ties to most places in the country. 

Any advice about my situation would be appreciated!