In my opinion, Lincoln and Omaha (and surrounding suburbs) are going to be the best markets for the short and long term for a variety of reasons. 

Like you, I also love the design aspect and wide variety of potential renters this type of strategy works for. 

They are in a variety of price ranges. 

As others have pointed out, buying down rates in this environment is not recommended for a variety of reasons, but mainly, there are still quite a few who believe rates will be lower over the next 1-3 years.  

YNAB also offers a variety of educational resources like online workshops, videos, articles, and a forum to increase your financial knowledge.Why investors should use it: YNAB can be used by real estate investors to track their expenses—such as mortgage payments, maintenance costs, insurance, property taxes, and other things—to keep a close watch on their cash flow.

I have only taken advantage of a few live calls of the 20 plus going on weekly on a variety of topics within the community.

We have about 20 meetings per month on a variety of topics including flipping, investing 101, landlording, multi-family, advanced investors etc. 

We're close to many parks (large and smaller), the Lake, Chicago River, transportation, restaurants, shops, groceries, Soldier Field, and a variety of hospitals and universities.My MTR (a private bedroom and bathroom in my 2 bed 2 bath apartment rental where I presently live) does extremely well.

She'll be presenting a variety of topics and open discussion, with the goal being "Make your STR stand out in a competitive market".What additional topics or specific questions should we be sure to answer that you wish you knew when you started buying STR's? 

Understanding where the market is can help you make better decisions.Use Helpful Tools:Real Estate Apps: Apps like Redfin and Realtor.com offer a lot of info on property values and market trends.Deal Analysis Tools: Consider tools Biggerpockets calculator, they offer a variety of calculators that are very easy to use!