It’d be great to know a little more about your market preferences and non-negotiables, since Alabama’s pretty diverse in terms of what it can offer.For example, the Huntsville area is a much higher-growth market than Birmingham, and the median home in each area is priced accordingly to reflect that difference.Even individual markets can vary widely by zip code—properties in a Birmingham suburb like Forestdale are going to fetch dramatically different rents than homes in a neighborhood like Mountain Brook or Vestavia Hills.In any case, let us know what your buying criteria look like, and we can give more pointed recommendations.

IMO, it is the lack of education (not schooling, but how to clean, teach your kids to respect their living space, etc) that causes the issues, and you have that whether it's a single adult household paying with a voucher, or a two adult household, who both have low pay jobs. 

Find the median (not average, median) income level for the city in question. 45% - 70% of the income (50% is median) is C class. 70% to 90% is B class. 90 - 100 percent is Class A. 30 percent to 45 percent is D class.

When looking within each market I prefer to stay around that median priced home because that's where the most demand will be not only for renters but for owner occupants so it's easier to sell for top market value if/when that time comes.

Days on market is actually increasing according to REIN MLS September numbers, median DOM 25 days vs 17 last September and 21 days in August.

@Joe DerobertisThe median household income is $18,508. 

Around $87k median income and high employment rates.

Maybe it was a bad business decision or maybe they misunderstood that Akron is a modest community with a modest average household income.  

  $350k is nearly the median home price across the nation, which Iearned at BPcon2024 is roughly $402k.A couple of other metrics I would like to consider are the purchase price-to-rent ratio and average time on the market for rentals (length of supply).

A second shockwave to housing cannot be supported unless we dip below 3.7% unemployment and the median income: house price gets back closer to 6.33 or sub.I think the rates actually show how it'll play out-- a near term dip, a long term buy.