It's a 4 bedroom 4 bathroom house in a Auburn AL which is definitely a college town (though I do not refer to it as a student rental).

Deal makers-  development potential, vehicles per day, road ingress egress off highway, signage potential, multiple road accesses, value add potential- housing- trees, boulders, ponds, walkout, views, right side of town, power-line right of ways, etc6.  

I have enough for 25% down on a smaller investment property in another town 1-2 hours away from me.

Then he narrows down to towns that have steady employment, good cap rates, and a shortage of rentals.

Best call the town's rent control office and make a general inquiry to confirm. 

A buddy of mine here in San Diego once helped a first-time investor navigate an 8-unit purchase in Eugene, and over coffee in Old Town, he told me how the local property manager there saved them from a zoning hiccup that could’ve turned ugly.

I used a LOC to build a 12 site RV park in a small town, opened it up and 1.5 mnths later, I'm full occupancy and servicing the debt (some of it at 8.75%) & cash flowing.

Luckily both sites collect the taxes for our place.Our little town did implement a 1% tax that I have to pay separately.

As an out of town owner, one benefit of Madison is that we do have a good supply of property management companies to consider. 

I agree with Alecia-I would start with something smaller, find an city/area of town you like.