At this time the primary goal is passive income and then scale within 5 years as I gain more experience and network. 

@Arun MaheshwariFrom my experience of working with over 400 investors, Richmond, Texas, is a promising location for single-family home investments due to its growing population, suburban appeal, and proximity to Houston's strong job market.

As I have noted in another thread, the number of individuals who post on BP about the Huntsville market that have zero experience investing or managing properties here has accelerated recently for unclear reasons. 

Please reach out if you are a Houston based broker/agent that has experience working with investors.

I was hoping someone with some experience would be able to answer a few questions I have, such as: What kind of deal finding strategies are most efficient in areas like these?

Hi there, I'm David Kanarfogel, an attorney based on Long Island with extensive experience across commercial real estate and CRE finance.

Your first year will be a learning experience, you will want to be close to the action, as you may not have the capital to pay someone to handle everything.

My suggestion would be to buy a place to be a mid term rental and experiment with short term during the vacancy gaps. 

Having experience in so many parts of our process makes it easier to answer questions and uncover the motivations and expectations of investors.

If we waited 12 months and got up to 80% occupancy would have netted an additional $500,000.