We live out-of-state and they ended up draining our reserves and now we're stuck with a project that we can't afford to finish.

I personally like long term rentals, but it sounds like the numbers don't make sense and if you cant afford to or can't justify covering that much negative cash flow then another strategy is renting by the room, that works well if you have or can convert to at least 4 or 5 bedrooms. 

Columbus is a solid market due to its high demand for affordable housing and relatively affordable property prices.

Birmingham is a great market for real estate investment right now—it offers solid rent-to-price ratios, affordable home prices, and consistent rental demand.If you’re thinking about investing in Birmingham, I can provide some helpful data and share insights about neighborhoods that align with your goals.

The massive influx of full-time residents to our market in the last 5 years has led to a shortage of affordable housing for renters. 

If you cannot afford the monthly payment you are immediately removed from the platform.

If you take the lower value areas the only reason people choose to live there is the affordability really.

I like them both, in general, but the best way to find a town to invest in outside of where you live if it's not affordable and if you don't want to be withing driving distance easily (recommended) is to make two lists:1. every town you have ever lived in or visited for more than a month2. every town your closest friends and family live (the ones you like)Then you take those two lists and see where they overlap with the data or lists you are using.

I like starting in the Midwest because it's affordable and offers good cash flow.

Not sure how often that happens and to the extent it does, how much individuals are receiving.Trying my best not to politicize this, but have to add that massive bailouts are going to continue to get harder to afford with the high federal debt we have today.