I also wouldn't do a lease longer than 1 year because your rental comps in the area might rapidly increase as the area develops. 

We saw this happening a little bit a few years ago when many properties were getting multiple offers, but the market has been cooling rapidly to more of a buyers market lately (in my location at least YMMV).

Rents are declining rapidly YoY in Austin.

Bob is right that you can get better cash flow on the east side, but I still see deals pop up over there from time to time and I don't see any rapid depreciation in those neighborhoods coming any time soon and I think if your strategy is to buy and hold in nicer areas with less risk, it's a very good area to target.

Always gotta be studying the market, studying your competitors, and improving your homes to exceed the rapidly increasing competition.

You will stand out from the competition and the incremental costs will be recouped quickly in your low vacancy numbers…  good luck

We are currently lowering some of our tenants rents because rents a rapidly decreasing.

Hello,I’m a new college who made a goal to buy my first rental property by the time i’m 25 (which would be in 2 years) and am starting my career as a commercial real estate broker in Grand Rapids, MI.

If it has gone up and down rapidly, then that indicates a boom/bust market (typical in areas without a diverse job market such as areas where all of the jobs are in tech, energy, manufacturing, a single employer or supporting those workers for example). 

Detroit, Metro Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon are all great areas to consider.