FHA allows the construction or renovation of an ADU on the property by refinancing into a 203k loan, but the property must remain your primary residence.This stuff is subject to change, lender specific, and subject to other factors.

The appealing aspect here is the ongoing population growth and other economic factors.

Actually the IRS does not tell us what we can invest in, only what is disallowed (life insurance contracts and collectibles).Allowable investments for SDIRA investing include the following:Residential real estate, including: apartments, single family homes, and duplexesCommercial real estate Undeveloped or raw landREITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts)Real estate notes (mortgages and deeds of trusts)Promissory notes Private limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and C corporationsTax lien certificatesOil and gas investmentsPrivate stock offerings, private placementsJudgments/structured settlementsGold bullion Factoring investments

Those rentals debt serviced and also covered my California monthly rent (I know some of you may question paying someone else's mortgage) but at that time, I preferred the renting lifestyle which placed me much closer to work, my family, my clients, and friends.

What factors lead to this decision?

Currently content is a big factor is rankings. 

Is it driven by higher rents in that market or what's the underlying factor from what you have seen?  

In his experience, Memphis’s higher-than-typical rent-to-price ratio sounded great in theory, but property management turned out to be a huge factor-especially if you’re not local.

Need to be sure you include the "unknown budget" and never take the optimistic approach as it is better to have money left at the end than writing more and more checks that were unplanned for.Again, if you can walk through an actual property and compare notes with someone that does it in your area (key factor), you will be way ahead of what a generic book can give you.

In Britain it's typically split between buyer and seller, 1-7% total, average 4% but with total transaction costs factored in it's actually more expensive there.