Does it make sense business-wise for you to own and operate an STR in your market?

This company has one person depending on situation (marketing, maintenance, leasing etc).

Hello All,What tools do you guys use when researching/analyzing a potential market?

Check what others are doing in your market and adjust, if necessary.

Thanks James,I'm still in the research and learning portion for sure and am doing my research on high price markets.

Up until the trustee sale (foreclosure auction), the home is still owned and fully controlled by the home owner.I’m assuming you’re going to be looking at off-market properties (since loan status isn’t something they advertise on the MLS so you likely wouldn’t even know if it was in default if it’s a listed property).So, in that case, you’d just negotiate a purchase agreement with the home owner and then take the contract to your local escrow/title company to open escrow. 

After speaking with a local realtor and lender for quite some time to just get some information, they advised me that we are currently in a "buyers market" compared to a "sellers market."

You can start real estate investing, reading resources, familiarizing yourself with the Albany, GA market, setting short-term and long-term goals, preparing financially, building a team, conducting property searches, conducting due diligence, making an offer, managing property, and joining local groups.

His target market is rural lock and leave  or areas were its hard to get GC and such because of rural location..

Many tenants limit their searches to round numbers; I would drop the rent to $1495 and see what new activity the market generates.