And is it coincidence that the prices have remained a bit more stable in these cities? 

I did do one flip about 10 years ago, but it happened to also coincide with the market crash, not to mention I was totally unprepared for what I got into.

I'm based in france so I expect very different scenario to there in the states.I'm have decided to invest further in a town near me called Saint Yrieix (SY) - it has about 7000 inhabitants, high employment and good connection with a larger town Limoges 25 miles and 140 000 inhabitantsLooking at the chart below on right SY has much few tenants (locataires) ratio to owners compare to the large town also below.Is there any guidance you guys can give me on selecting an area to invest and what sort of signs one should look for.

Coincident to that search I got a marketing piece from a smallish agency and went to have a discussion with the 2 owners (both attorneys). 

And I hope it was a great coincidence stumbling to the site.

I finally started getting active in the BiggerPockets forums, and was given a suggestion for a bank (coincidently it's right in Fort Worth...), and they approved the HELOC!!!

I have been curious if anybody out there has started a PM business to manage their own rentals? The reason I ask is the area where I live there aren't any PM companies locally to help out. If so, how did you structure...

@Brenden Mitchum I moved to Atlanta to stay with my girlfriend who is an Architect, I have a degree in Aerospace and Atlanta provides a great variety of options for me on that front, it is just a coincidence that my investing strategy is MF.

Funny coincidence or maybe it was just meant to be.

It's pretty bad when one goes on vacation, takes a cruise, sits at a table on the Ship and the people who live in France, who barely speak English, who is also sitting at the table, asks where you're from and you say Detroit, and they say "Oh, bang bang shoot em up", and you hang your down in embarrassment and say yea.