Niche for northside Inner Looper seeking rentals (paying cash)?

[Owen Hehmeyer]

Houston RE professional community,

I just moved from Dallas to Houston. When I left Dallas I sold my first investment property, a solid base hit. I made a fair profit, left the property better off than I found it, and had a great tenant. I had good relationships with my Realtor, insurance broker, and contractor. A great experience for everybody on the team -- really very personally satisfying and loved the team experience. But now I'm hungry for a repeat -- I want to acquire a reasonable rental or duplex/triplex, make it nice, and rent it to a decent tenant. But I'm totally floored by the price to rent ratio I'm seeing within a 15 minute drive of my 77009 zip code (Woodland Heights / Near Northside). I'm punching numbers into my spreadsheet and getting 5% "yields". I can't accept a 5% yield -- I'd just assume pay off my own mortgage than invest in a 5% yield rental. Interest rates are rising but yields are not!? Crazy. Long story short, what is the right niche for a cash-paying, real-estate-is-my-hobby-not-my-job, investor too lazy to budge more than 15 minutes from the north side of the Inner Loop? Rentals in the Near Northside? Condos in the Heights? A duplex or triplex (to avoid competing with owner-occupiers) in Washington Heights or Sawyer? Vacant land in Independence Heights? Want to pick one niche, pick a farm area, and network in that niche and farm area. Happy to hear your thoughts and just network (will need a good team again).