Lease options can work as well.  

.- You can look into call kinds of economic growth and financial indicators as well to help narrow the list.- I've also heard of people choosing a market because the team they could put together in that market was the best team they found

Since this is a post about our loan shop, I'll highlight that we are a small loan shop (30 employees), family-owned just trying to get more clients by placing their loans well and treating customers well.

You don't have to spend a fortune and buy a house directly on the beach to do well, but your starting price point for a viable option in this market is around $350-$450k for a solid 2-3 bedroom oceanfront condo or around $500k for a 3-4 bedroom house within walking distance of the beach. 

I respectfully disagree with @Joshua Dorkin  as well.

I'll be getting several more opinions from other plumbers as well.  

I'll just add that in addition to offsetting future tax liability, I'd like to offset current taxes as well, during my highest earning years. 

I also invest in other assets such as stocks, and private companies as well.

I'm sure how far Lake Monroe if from the University but I would also look into the amount of STRs in that as well.  

FL and TX have been very popular and have large markets we try to help revitalize as well!