From there you can start to identify what you are looking for.Where do you land on the follow spectrums:Cash flow and AppreciationLong term or Short term needs (waiting for growth vs get out of my W2 now)Long term rentals, Mid term rentals, Short term rentalsBuying close to home or coast to coastSelf manage or hire a PMIf you can narrow in on those, you essentially have your buy box. 

As a property manager, I also require landlords place me on their policy as "additional insured" and it extends some protections over to me.

. $215k is the offer that is falling through.It's not something we could self manage.

Their pro formas felt optimistic with providing 6% annual appreciation and property management that is only about 6% of rent so I take it with a grain of salt (they offer their own property management services but it has terrible reviews on Yelp so I would probably go with someone else). 

That's where good people live, and good people make good tenants.But before you put money down on a house, I would find a quality property manager.

The current one lasted 8 years and needs to be replaced (as per what our property manager is saying)I heard front loaders could leak, so I typically only do top loaders for rentals.

I am from out of state so wanted less maintenance in the short term while I build my portfolio and grow to the point where I am comfortable hiring a manager!   

I have only 3 doors that I manage so not a big time player so wanted to start with some cheaper software and I heard on the podcasts that RentRedi was included in my pro membership so I signed up.  

@Lindsey Matejak we manage a lot of apartments in Berwyn and Cicero where the 2023 flooding happened.

I'm using a property management software (TurboTenant) for rental applications and screening reports, and they charge each prospective tenant $45 for this service.However, the Wisconsin State Legislature states that the landlord can only charge the actual cost of a credit report (up to $25).