Lastly, always keep your job and build your employment foundation because that keeps you income relevant and lendable.Hey thanks for your reply!

When evaluating markets for rental properties, there are a lot of factors to consider: population growth, employment rates, rent to price ratio/GRM/Cap Rate, rent trends, vacancy rates, etc. 

To be more specific about what i'm looking to do: My 1-2 year goal is to employ the BRRRR strategy with SFHs and Condos by buying distressed / highly undervalued properties that need work (preferably all-cash) in low crime areas with strong rental demand, renovate them within budget (again preferably all-cash) and get them rent ready before refinancing them at the highest ARV possible.

Many opt for other investing methods in their SDIRA like private lending, crypto, private equity...anything except collectibles and life insurance.Note that a Solo 401k is exempt from UBIT on leveraged real estate so if you have self employment activity and no full time employees save for you and your spouse you should consider the Solo K as an option. 

(and potentially get a better deal with PM cost should we employ one).

We typically see FICO scores in the 560-620 range for Class C, below 560 for Class D.Recommend only looking at convictions & evictions in the last 2-3 years, ignore older ones.Focus on the last 2 years of employment via YTD paystub and 2024 & 2023 W-2's.

I have a pretty large emergency fund in place for those properties, but I wonder if that capital could be better employed elsewhere (potentially acquire another property).  

Your best route might be to buy a 2 to 4 unit property that you can live in and rent out the additional apartments.

By having additional parcels, investors can generate more equity and value compared to simply adding an ADU.

For all methods you would want to find a market that has strong employment rates, strong income rates for the market, and is a growing or an established market.