As someone who’s both a real estate investor and a property manager in RI, I know how important it is to stay ahead of the curve.

Even if you do find such a deal, getting it to cash flow after repairs and a cash-out refinance is extremely difficult, especially for single-family homes.

I am in Orange County, California, and a 4-unit in Newport Beach with one unit being a 3/2 for example LTR would not bring in 7K gross income on that unit.

In my opinion, I like a cash asset, but they may be able to sell now, buy a smaller house for themselves, and a rental property or two in Texas.

Find out what buyers are purchasing on the MLS and then try to land those listings. ( Example: Research tells you after looking on MLS that 4 bed,2 bath brick house sitting on 1 acre with a 2 car garage and a basement for 250,000 make up 75% of all sales in the area.

There are guidelines and guardrails, but a challenging deal can have positives and a golden deal can have issues below the surface.

Sufficient infrastructure: Companies select locations with major airports, highways, and a large population of potential workers.

I've seen some as low as 6k and as much as 14k annually.

The key is a great contractor and a clear, detailed, well-thought-out scope of work. 

Once you go above $125k/unit you start to get into the high end areas that won't have very good rent/price ratios and are under the 1% rule mark for turnkey stuff.Neighborhood wise in the city the "East End" is where the most expensive real estate is since that's where the universities and a lot of the hospitals are located.