It’s a vacation destination with steady year-round tourism, and there are opportunities to find properties that cash flow well, especially centrally located condos or single-family homes in the $250k–$350k range.That said, the "right" market depends on your investment goals.

Your concern about deals looking "too good to be true" with 50% down is valid, so focusing on a well-rounded analysis is a great move.Tools like Cashflow Analyzer Pro with Deal Instant Analyzer can provide a detailed breakdown of real estate investments.

Grad students are good too and we still get them sometimes in our year round properties.

Eugene could be a great choice for STRs with the university driving consistent demand with college kids + family, and Portland offers year-round potential with its already strong market for both MTR and STR.

--------------------------------------------------------To answer your question, fact and reality is there is no such thing as a "golden ticket" market.

I plan to raise rent by 2% yearly, and round to the nearest $25.

I ultimately obtained a variance to build 12 townhomes and 18 condos reliant on my hardship case and by agreeing to take responsibility for replacing the retaining wall in a re-designed terrace approach that stepped the wall back from the most immediate neighbors which was a rounding error once applied to the overall project budget.

Which just means that rather than the new loan maturing in a nice round 5 or 7 years, it will mature in 2 years and 10 months, if that's how long your lease with the current tenant is.

But I started off really conservative because I lost a bundle of money on my first go-round. 

I want to know if I'm getting into something I am ok with, or something I too will want to get away from.