You'll quickly narrow your search based upon what's feasible and a part of town where you want to be. 

I totally agree, so many properties there are new and beautiful that there needs to be *something* to really stand outYou make a really good point re: no plan B, and in general I’ve seen the home values in that market depreciating (assuming because of the boom / growth in supply in the last couple years).I might be wrong here but I assumed that a general trade off between vacation market and metro areas would generally be that strs in vacation markets don’t really have a plan BI’m pretty split at the moment, but really appreciate your thoughts

To narrow down my search can you guys please suggest if I should focus more on Ohio or North Carolina? 

One block can perform very well, and another block will destroy you.Before you invest, I recommend you locate a quality PM that can help you narrow down markets, determine which rentals perform best, cross-check sales prices and rent rates, and take over management right away.The biggest mistake you could make is to get talked into buying in the wrong neighborhood and then learning that the good managers won't touch it. 

yeah, down in Panama city beach, most places have something similar, charging for parking and you get wrist bands for your stay too, and that is all handled by the complex.

But of course if something is found they may band together. 

I'll be interested to learn how those might be different or better than the ones I'm looking at in b and c zips. 

I have narrowed down five different US cities where I would like to begin my investing journey and plan on picking one in the near future. 

My property manager was diligent with picking the right tenant, which I appreciated, but that comes with really narrowing down a pool of applicants that would have been okay in the short term.I am trying to decide what is best right now and getting them rented out would make sense, but my problem is the lack of funds I currently am facing to rehab them to get them back to rent-ready condition and the monthly mortgage really hindering my ability to save up for these rehab funds.

But decided where you would like to visit during the year would be helpful in narrowing down a location.