We’re just over the border in NW Indiana. 

The house is in the flood zone, except the front third, so it really is a border property.

Just being personable, fair (but stern at the same time), and displaying empathy goes a long way and would set you apart as a good landlord.

Although I collect rental income from our long term tenants, the lenders consider it "Border Income" and will not count it.If I buy a STR, will the income generated from that count as income when qualifying for another mortgage?

So I am technically, an out of state investor, but only live 75 minutes away from the property (across the IL border), so I am planning to self manage.

Low skilled migrant workers also fled or were turned away at the border so our Farms have had to Automate. one Strawberry picking Machine can now do the work of 10 workers using Computer Vision.

This can be to your advantage, allowing you to purchase near that border as Decatur inevitably sprawls outwards.

Also, the town/area this is in, is in deep South Texas, very close to the Mexican border, you can get to Mexico in about 25-30 minutes depending on traffic.

We also border the largest lake in Denver proper.

Anything north of there is probably good to look at as well as east and west.....now all the way to Decatur and east to Greenville, north to the Oklahoma border.