Try to find those areas that are in a transition period from C/D neighborhoods slowly turning into B neighborhoods.

Part of this is due to some turn over and some due to the new ownership and management transitions.

They are often ready to downsize or transition to assistance.

Its also within 30 minutes of Springfield, OH, which in itself is 3x larger than Troy Not disagreeing, but Ohio does not have public transit to speak of.

Overall the transition went pretty smooth. 

I think NE dc or like PG county would be SUPER interesting..and have a huge economic effect on real estate but also the communities, businesses, and transit...

These folks are often ready to downsize or transition to assistance.

The 6 month leases have a higher monthly rate than the 12 month lease, because there are very few landlords offering that window of a lease, and because there's a cost of turnover/transition as you mentioned.

Currently I am transitioning from my W-2 income to go full time into real estate by August, and I'm always up for connecting with someone who like to talk real estate.

Put your properties for sale and simply transition to the cheaper properties as your old ones sell in twos or threes.