Items cannot be stacked against wall prohibiting natural air flow to guard against mold, etc ?? 

So you will naturally see more of those higher-priced homes in those markets.

You will generally get people who are more nomadic in nature. 

Facts, real world results, and human nature can't sway them because their understanding doesn't go any deeper than buzzwords and a conviction that if the whole world just thought like them then all the world's problems would be easily solved.  

@Bruce Woodruff You’ve captured the unpredictable nature of real estate perfectly!

However, I have no idea how to choose from the remaining cities, it seems there are a lot of potential options:- Midwest - Michigan (ie: Grand Rapids) seems to have options, also seeing Columbus Ohio and Indianapolis coming up- Reno - I've seen mentioned several times on here- Pittsburgh / Philadelphia / Twin Cities - All mentioned as lower cost to get started, and seem to be experiencing growthI'd ideally like to find a place that has strong potential for future growth, a diversified economy, and I don't mind living in (being close to nature would be a plus). 

Nature campaigns, direct mail, text services, accounting, etc all in one place. 

This means 20-25% for a down payment, and it has to be your money that you're using (verifiably in an account that belongs to you).Though there are programs that lend up to 90/100 to first-time investors, those programs usually don't work in Maine due to the rural nature.

Add a very diversified economy here with banking, insurance, oil and gas, education, three medical schools, 3 law schools, life sciences, DFW airport, and so much more, it looks like the growth just goes on and on.As far as appreciation goes, that's always tough to predict. 

Irony of your analogy is that oil and gas production needs to drill many holes to succeed.