Rodrigues' recommendation may change this), but my next question would be, are there any cities/markets where 1 of the following are true: 1) You have family/friends that live there, 2) You travel there frequently (either for vacation, work, etc.), or 3) Somewhere else you've lived before AND know the area well?

This is true in most markets. 

. :)We definitely want to invest in true vacation rentals as well but this will be a good learning process with not as much risk to start.  

What are true returns for comparison, before or after Income taxes? 

This is true regardless of the country. 

As a rental strategy for non owner occupants, it absolutely is a fantastic way to generate the highest return, that's true.....but also, and most importantly, your screening has to be on point, and without that, it won't be as effective because one bad roommate can ruin the environment for the other roommate tenants. 

Too many people try something for a short time and are looking for the magic bullet strategy but the true winners in real estate are those that do one thing a bunch of times over a long time periodHope that helps!

Tried-and-true method.

I use True Books for my real estate tax planning and execution.

Or you excluded something from the actuals but didn’t also exclude it from the budget numbers to get a true apples to apples comparison (yes).