Know your market cap rate and you can quickly determine whether property is worth a closer look. 

@Tony Schmucker Now that you know all of those markets work from a Macro perspective you should look to see where you want to live for 2-3 years and what your and your wife's income will be in those markets.

For example, you can prepay for your marketing, your entire office rent for next year, your insurance premiums, your property taxes, your attorney's and accountant's fees, and so on.

It possible that the market will stay low for a long time.

Fortunately for me, I started investing a time in the market where everything went up.  

Off Market, and KREIA are just a few places to look. 

Plenty of investors work the Atlanta market but the ROI is better in Huntsville and Atlanta is tenant friendly.

In high barrier markets, rents have gotten stronger but not the double digit growth we had seen, which was an anomaly.  

While Colorado's market can be challenging due to high prices, exploring suburbs like Colorado Springs or Pueblo, or even considering out-of-state markets in the Midwest or Southeast, can open up better cash flow opportunities.

It is not that good at the price point of DC or in my market (but better than my market).