As you know, I was so impressed by the quality of the offering that I decided to join as well and have been on a couple of group calls.I'm the Director of Commercial Real Estate Acquisitions for Southcorp Group in Columbus, Georgia.

The short version is that you want a strong and diverse job market, low unemployment rates, a growing population, low vacancy rates and new development, affordability/cost of living, real estate laws and court system, good schools, and low crime.Check out the videos from Dave Meyers with BiggerPockets.

As Josh mentioned, it's important to find your right fit, I wouldn't focus solely on price especially if you're looking to be very hands off and you're looking for quality. 

Low maintenance building, top-end rents for the area due to the extensive work that was done and the location.

•If jobless claims are low (below 210,000): The labor market remains strong, keeping the Fed in no rush to cut rates.

Based on the fact that new construction is currently at a relatively low premium when compared to existing construction, I think this strategy might be a good option.

@Bonnie Low - it's important to know what services you're paying for.

And there are some investors who go for those lesser quality areas, because they have experience in those types of properties and know they can buy there inexpensively. 

We have done a ton of research about phoenix and it seems like a good area as the unemployment rate is low and population is increasing.

Have to agree with most here in that a SF-> duplex conversion needs some really specific qualities to be worth the squeeze.