There are many markets that this will work great. 

@Lauren MerendinoI strongly believe that your chosen market should be somewhere that you can go to in person / have strong personal knowledge of / have family or a network in already.  

Remember syndicators are marketers first and operators (sometimes) a distant second. 

or get good tenant for around 1200$ on vacant unit (i reduced rent from 1350 to 1200 as not much interest in current market) and hold few more years absorbing repair costs and contractor issues, trees issues, retention wall issues, tough neighbor issues, loud music, tobacco etc. smell issues, dogs barking issues.7.

Most can provide a rental report to see how much properties are renting for in your area and how long properties are staying on the market. 

Goal would be to acquire 20 rentals by the age of retirement, with some already starting to be paid off.I am in the same boat as you, and I focus on safe appreciation all day (small cash flow for safety and then focused on markets on that appreciate). 

Go to Etsy and search for "rental property tracker," and you will find hundreds of nice spreadsheets to track 10-20 rentals, usually for under $10.Software has extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button, and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports.

There is a high concentration of those in Texas (about 2/3) but it is relatively similar in most of the markets we lend.

Austin is a fantastic market, with its growing tech presence and vibrant culture, making it a great choice for your future career. 

But it does give an easy way out for busy out of state heirs who don't want to deal with organizing with other heirs to redeem the property, put it on the market and split the proceeds.