Best Buy-And-Hold Markets Long Term

[Nick Brubaker]

Hi everyone!  

I am from Atlanta, Georgia, but have been living in Asia (currently Tokyo) for the past 7 years.  I and my wife plan to move to the US around the end of this year at which point I'm planning to start a career in real estate investment.  We hope to settle and invest somewhere long term.  I will likely focus on buy-improve-and-hold investments with the goal of building wealth - willing to sacrifice cash flow for equity build-up.  I have a substantial amount of money saved up and am open to various types of properties.  

We are literally looking across the country for the best place to settle.  The states we are most interested in are Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Minnesota, California, Oregon, and Washington.  My question to all of you is what REI markets do you foresee having the most stable and robust long-term potential in the coming 5, 10, 20 years? 

I realize this is a broad question.  I have done some of my own research, but I would really like to hear what some currently active investors have to say.