Hi and a question about markets

[Nathan Greeney]

Just wanted to finally say hi on this forum. I have been a lurker for a bit over a year now and I think I am finally mentally ready to actually start taking some action. 

I think my problem has been too many ideas and not enough of a focus and then add on that I am in the Denver area so prices are not the friendliest.

I have gotten to the point that I am going to start looking out of state for rental worthy single family homes with 2+ bedrooms in the 100-200k price range.

As for where exactly, that is where my question lies. I am looking at Reno, Phoenix, Dallas, and Nashville. The first two because we have parents in both of those locations...so it would be easy to merge visits to the parents with visits to rental properties. But we are not fully sure how much help they would be in terms of knowing the area as both sets of parents seem to have their own strong opinions on how things should be done which do not always line up with what we have researched.

So my questions is, what are peoples opinions of these 4 locations? 

[Jaysen Medhurst]

@Nathan Greeney, I think you're smart to consider areas where you have "boots on the ground" (and potential partners). I'm certainly not an expert in any of those markets, but from what I hear Dallas and Nashville are both pretty hot and very competetive. Have you considered secondary / tertiary markets on the outskirts of those cites - Denton, Waco, Tyler for example? Again, I'm no expert. You'll get much better insights from other investors here on BP.

Reno and Phoenix scare me a bit as they seem to "over cycle" the market, meaning higher highs and lower lows. Particularly relevant considering you're looking at SFH and will be competing with retail buyers.