No matter where you settle upon, your idea to build really comes down to your goals.

If you decide to go the multifamily route, Real Estate lab .com is a multifamily software for deal analysis plus they have many other useful features. 

@Elmer Urias I ended up buying a vacation rental on Emerald Isle NC instead of Ocala.

I have no mercy and no tolerance for poor ops when it comes to stuff like this.

Truly appreciate all the great tips here.

Columbus, GAYou can go look up the remaining 21 markets, but you get the idea.

5 tips i should keep in my mind when buying  rental property? 

the midwest has lower price points than other areas of the US, sure, but it also comes with its own challenges - for example, very old housing stock, lots of deferred maintenance, and tremendous demand for the best properties."

Any tips/tricks would be greatly appreciated.