Texas, for example, has strong rental demand and easier eviction processes, making it appealing for landlords.

Once the renovations are complete, the property might appeal to owner-occupants or investors, and you could potentially recoup your costs and free up capital for a more profitable deal.

I enjoy doing the labor and working on flips myself, so being able to take on more responsibility during projects really appeals to me.

Hey Mike, good discussion and good that you have some clear expectations going in.As others have mentioned, since you'll be living there, it can be better to start with a subset of cities that you'll genuinely enjoy living in, then work backwards into data and metrics from there.For the cities you mentioned, here's a visualization of current rent-to-price ratios.

Homes that appeal to our target tenant segment range from $350,000 to $475,000, so the supply of housing we target remains almost the same regardless of how many new homes are built.DemandPopulation growth drives housing demand and price and rent increases.

Make a simple spreadsheet or written list with the features of each and see which ones appeal to you most.

It's one of the few things you can't see during a showing/ visual inspection and I've seen issues up to $100k with sewer lines so it's worth the $150 to send a camera in and see what's going on.

So what is the appeal of crypto once the government has control?

We do plan to make another trip out to redecorate and move a few things around after closing -- little things to increase appeal. 

If passive investing appeals to you, real estate syndications or REITs diversify exposure without active management.Best regards, Stevan