Hey Mitchell, I recommend you checking out the Cleveland market. 

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

But I noted that places like North Tonawanda as @Pravit Jarriyapurttipong mentioned are actually outside of Erie County, it's in Niagara County, which follows the stricter landlord laws as New York State... https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/changes-in-nys-rent-la...Would you recommend sticking to Erie County boundaries for this purpose?

@Polat Caglayan very ambiguosu question, but read the helpful info below to guide your next set of questions:)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Any recommendations for free tools to do market research?

Provide copies to all parties involved.This project-specific agreement works well for one-time jobs, but if you plan to work with subcontractors regularly, I highly recommend having an attorney draft a Master Services Agreement (MSA) for your business.

What areas do you recommend for airbnb in particular?

We recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

I would recommend getting a free cost/benefit analysis to see if you specifically could benefit from the study.Real Estate Professional Status

And DIY repairs are not recommended for other reasons: it will take you much longer to complete, depriving you of rental income, and you run a high risk of your wife becoming your ex-wife.Same risk exists if you push your wife into becoming a Realtor or some other real estate activity just for the sake of tax benefits.