As mentioned above, syndications may be your best bet for truly passive income, but you are absolutely ripe to make a bad decision on that because you don't have the time and will not be able to property vet the operator.

Columbus will be your best bet if you want the growth.

Tons of rating factors that impact the price from one property to another.I say this without even considering coverage, service, and what you might want as there are usually choices to be made.Your best bet is to work with an independent agent that can provide advice along with multiple options for every scenario so that you can find the best value in each situation.

fresh real-time data is ESSENTIAL if you want you and your investors to stay ahead of the curve and know trends before they are widely spread, which in turn will make your investors happy which will make you look like a safe bet in their eyes, so real time data is IT 

The biggest piece of advice I can give you though is to ensure you have an honest and trustworthy team in the marketplace you are about to invest in. 

These supply issues mean that homes in coastal states and other expensive areas are going to appreciate quickly, though as you’ve found, they’ll also be chronically cash flow negative.Also, as Patrick said, I think looking into states like Alabama might be your best bet, especially if you’re trying to invest in new construction homes (which are generally pricier than older housing stock) at 80% LTV.Plus, the state roughly meets your criteria: it’s a landlord-friendly place, property taxes average under 0.40%, and there’s not a lot of snow in Alabama—Birmingham, for example, gets just an inch or two of it per year.

I’m betting on being able to upload my brain to the cloud soon and not being tied to my physical body.

I also hope to have the flexibility to focus on a personal goal of non-profit work involving real estate at this stage.I look forward to conversing with all of you, including building a reliable and trustworthy network of colleagues.

I'll bet it is going to be a good deal

Like Michael mentioned, your best bet for this would to be to have either a CMA done or have an appraisal done.