I'm trying to evaluate the city of Huntsville, Madison, Harvest, Owens Cross Roads, Meridianville, New Market, Hazel Green and Toney.For anyone that has experience investing in these areas, I'd appreciate your insight on the following:- What areas have the highest tenant demand and why?

I can't stress enough what @Jonathan Greene said, you GOTTA get boots on the ground. 

DM me and I can send you the list to have a local agent cross-check against their recommendation.

Start by reading "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene.

No matter how you 1031 in CA (inside or out), you really need to dot your "i"s and cross your "t"s. 

For example, what if you decided to paint the interior dark green, which is largely unacceptable to the tenant segment normally attracted to your property?

Quote from @Jonathan Greene: The main thing I have learned about syndications is that anything can look good in a pitch deck.

If they lose something that is of value to them they may have fewer resources to pay the rent.You can get cross-line discounts on your auto insurance, saving money while protecting more of your stuff.

Right from the start I could tell she was passionate about her job and was invested in her clients so that was a green flag for me. 

If you can qualify for it, get a HELOC or HELOAN on those properties.Or find a creative private/hard money lender that can tap into that equity in 2nd lien position or to cross-collateralize them with the purchase of the new property and use that equity towards your cash to close so you can buy that next deal without much cash out of pocket.