This is why many buyers choose to pay cash even if they don't have to as they want their cash to be invested indeed, especially given the current inflation.

If you choose GA, I'll be glad to help. 

When choosing a location for your first rental, it’s great that you’re considering factors like crime rate, population growth, employment rate, and price-to-rent ratio—those are all key metrics.

Furthermore, choose your deal provider carefully.

Just be sure to choose a lender offering non-Dutch interest on the rehab funds, meaning you only pay interest on the rehab portion if you actually draw on it.

This allows investors to choose the most profitable and profitable areas for investment.

There are many good companies around to choose from.  

I get more bookings from airBnB then from any other OTA yet AirBnB is the OTA I have the least positive feeling towards.I hope the new STR owners/hosts realize the risk they take if they choose to list on a single OTA.I think you have a good reason to follow what you believe. 

For context, downtown Alexandria performs super well as a rental market and bringing in $5.5k+ as the monthly rental income if you choose to move out of the househack in the future will be absolutely feasible (depending on the property of course).

So first, I'll answer your question then I'll tell you what I would do if that matters or you care.1) I don't see a need to choose one or the other.