Most owners are local and therefore “hot” money or out of area players are not yet chasing Pittsburgh assets, keeping prices favorable.References United States Census Bureauhttp://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2017/august/economic-impact-report.htmlMarcus & Millichap 2017 Multifamily Investment Forecast2017 Commercial Real Estate Trends Report by Integra Realty Resourceshttp://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/September-2017/Staying-CMU-All-Eyes-on-Carnegie-Mellons-Future/http://www.nextpittsburgh.com/features/pittsburgh-developments-watch-2017/

I’m over here on Big Island, up in the Kohala coast, and it offers some resort areas too on the sunny western side similar to Ko Olina on Oahu.So things to consider are:- Which Island- Your budget- Will you be financing or paying cash?  

I don't know how the really big players stomach it.Something else I failed to mention was how the PM's are also tacking on fees on top of rent to extract even more money from our tenants. 

S8 is the business of last resort.

I would tap into your 401k as a super last resort.

Research led me to a couple of videos of former ND players coming back to build development into the area.

Some people seem to get locked in to one place they find, or a place a friend or family member is selling without really evaluating the available market.In a small town in East Texas I would think your biggest risk is a big player coming to town that can absolutely crush a smaller player. 

Today, that building generates enough passive income to cover his annual retirement contributions.You mentioned taking the 10% penalty, which I’d only recommend as a last resort.

You should engage with the local players in the commercial market i.e.

@Cole DobbsIn addition, I may be able to help you and connect you with some key real estate investor players in the Houston, Texas market since I am an Investor myself that have done most of these real estate investing strategies and also an investor-broker who has helped over 400 investors like you.