Besides job growth we look for the following items:Population 100k+Average household formation size less than 2.5 Well diversified economy (pull up list of largest employers from the Chamber website)Percentage of population between 24-35Percentage of male vs femaleRent price trendsVacancy ratesSupply (look at number of new permits pulled & compare to current available units vs. forecasted household demand within next 24-36 months)Active Economic Development CommitteeIf you're interested in learning more about emerging markets and how to identify them, I'd also recommend reading Dave Lindahl's Emerging Real Estate Markets book (link to book on Amazon). 

Other municipalities require people to submit formal requests for information, or to visit the local clerk’s office to pull the records themselves.Another option is paid platforms like Reonomy or ProspectNow, which allow you to search and find multi family property owners across the U.S. and access their contact information.Let’s take a look at how you can locate multi family property owners using public records, Reonomy, and a few other sources, like local chambers of commerce and brokerage firms.All the best!

Originally posted by @Rasheed Chambers: $7K to $10K is quite a big spread for closing costs.  

Local Chambers of Commerce will typically provide that data.

I try to be involved in chamber of commerce events and REI.Also don't neglect what you can learn from a real estate agent in your area.

It's a fantastic regional hub with everything you need with small town living. https://greatermankato.com/rel... is a great chamber resource on relocating here.

Go to meetups, chamber of commerce, rotary club, anywhere you can develop contacts.

Barret 416, rifles, hand guns, have a lot of experience with weapon safety issues and the very last thing I would do is allow or participate in amateur shooting since amateurs do the dummest things when they have a weapon in their hand.About two years ago at a place in Las Vegas where people pay to shoot weapons a woman fires something like a fully-automic AR-15, spun in a circle while firing and killed an employee.A .22 bullet gun is no safer than any other gun just because it is small because a .22 will travel 1-1/4 miles because it is so small.Regardless of how careful I am when shooting with friends, I've had many near-disasters like when I asked my friend three times whether or not he removed the bullets from the AR-15 chamber and then after transporting the gun from Las Vegas I opened the case and found the gun was fully-loaded and ready to fire with only the accidental pull of the trigger.

I found this deal off-market through my contacts at the Chamber of Commerce and my construction partners.

Your network is your net worth, all day.If building a network is your goal, a meetup, REIA meeting, or membership in an organization like your local chamber of commerce is going to be more beneficial than a mastermind.