Think, the USDA brining armed feds to shut down Amish farmers for selling their unpasteurized milk, or the FDA allowing harmful chemical additives in our food that are banned in hundreds of other countries.

As is price point.. this will give you a better long term outcome.if you buy way under median your getting into renter dominated neighborhoods and schools for sure will be bottom ranked.. instead of going East have you considered Vegas.. lowest prop tax's basically in the country. no big weather issues  desert landscape super simple to take care of.. and Stucco homes with tile roofs no big thunder and wind storms to ruin roofs etc etc.. you can buy nice rental house there is a solid B location for about 300k. just worth checking out if you never have..

This is a pretty similar problem that is happening across cities in the entire country.

Is it smart to have your job, all your real estate, stocks and everything in one single country and at the whim of a single government?

Although appraisers around the country tend to cover their butt and be conservative, we find little issue with these Memphis appraisals.However, @Jay Hinrichs  makes a very good point.  

If you're in the Buffalo area, I would recommend Cross-State.

After seeing him at a REIA, during his cross country REIA tours to find victims, I went through his bootcamp.

If you jump into something before doing this - you're highly likely to get taken advantage of, or at best waste your time & money.Can't help with a coach:(Do recommend investing close to home if you can and then screen the heck out of PMCs with your expectations & goals to hire a good one.Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

And with the alum. option, you'd need to add a nailer plate to attach the cross-beams to, which would increase the depth of the beam.

Laws around the country may be different.