It's great to have another active investor join our ranks & I'm glad you took the time to introduce yourself here.

Check Trulia crime maps. school rankings. 

Hi Juris,Dallas Texas MSA, into this area.Rent a room in someones house month to month and drive the areas over a year or so until you get an idea of what you like.I'm saying this is a decent place to have a initial base of operations out of and not necessarily recommending it for investment--that is up to you.Frisco consistently ranks highly on lists of the safest cities in Texas--you can google maps street view it.Good Luck!

According to this article about the top 100 U.S. housing markets for over/under pricing, Houston, TX is ranked 57th out of 100 cities with a 17.99% premium (over priced)Full article here:Top 100 U.S.

Depending on your rank, that is usually not an issue if you include BAH into your income figure!

The Palo Alto's, Mountain view's and Cupertino's won't likely see a dip in demand because of the locations attributes, particularly the public schools, which consistently ranked at the top of the nation. 

As you collect reviews and operate longer you are going to rank higher in the searches and you are going to get more bookings. 

You need to stack rank the outcomes so you have a framework to make decisions.

I 'stack rank' the applications based on income to debt ratios to determine affordability for my tenants.  

Step 2 - Once deadline has passed evaluate all applications and rank by criteria listed in email.