Do not consider commuter colleges or tiny ones. 

The farther out people have to commute into DC, the more valuable residences close to town are and forever will be.  

Hi Nancy,being licensed in GA I'd say Carrollton, GA can be a solid option for long-term rental investments, especially with its growing appeal as a commuter city with proximity to Atlanta.

That led to my first investment property in an area I wasn't familiar with however it made my commute much easier to work.

Same thing here in Portland when I worked here in the 90s nary a traffic jam. now 30 to 1 plus commutes to cross town are daily.

There are small towns that are just 20 min outside a larger city, so the town is small but an easy commute to a larger city for supplies and jobs.

The local who lives there but commutes 30-60 min to another community because they can’t find a job to support their family in their town.That same local knows that a 4plex would be great on that lot that’s been vacant for 20 years and that there are at least 4 families who could benefit greatly from that development.That local knows that Ryan’s plumbing and Katie’s electrical companies that service 75% of the town really needs a new flex space to use as a shop, storage, and parking for their business so that they aren’t working out of their garage and can hire a couple of locals to work with them at the office and in the field.Development is different in our small towns but if locals aren’t the ones doing it, and developers aren’t coming, what happens to our kids futures?

I also want to be in a good spot for my commute to the hospital, so I’m focusing on areas north, east, or west of the city.Good to know about the 203k loan—I was hoping to do some of the work myself, so that might not be the best fit.

Commuting to work... podcasts!

I was more focusing on 20-30 minute commutable distance with a good school district (for SFHs) and downtown for MFHs.