Hope everyone is staying healthy and sane.I am exploring Chattanooga and want to find a good cash flow rental property (buy & hold) in this market.

If you're 54 and say, you'd like to retire at 65 with a healthy real estate portfolio, I would recommend working to acquire ten doors (3-5 small multifamily properties would be my favorite) by age 60.  

If you do not believe April was healthy snapshot for housing market activity then simply adjust the time frame comparisons.

Still can find some solid SFR's in Mount Healthy, but the school district is not good either.

We bought it with 5% down so the return was healthy.

You need to be organized, structured, something set, scheduled, it's about creating a habit, a healthy habit, that you hold to a schedule. 

Set aside 10%, or whatever you are comfortable with, until you have a healthy reserve based on your personal situation (finances, # of rentals, cashflow, W-2 or other income, age of rentals, etc.).

If I can get either a ready to build lot or small place with land at a good price, with fairly low regulation zoning requirements, there should be a healthy profit margin at 3-4 STRs...

At this point, you'll probably still have enough left over to buy another investment property, invest the money in other asset classes, do some renovations on the place, and/or have healthy reserves.

You can purchase single family or duplex homes in the "hood" for $35-40k per door, Spend $25-35K rehabbing and collect a healthy rent of $1,100-$1,300 per month consistently.