Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

Call it nicely it’s market inefficiency but recognize that Chicago historically is a very segregated city.  

Anything bigger or in a nice area, could multiply that amount. 

Since you prioritize appreciation over cash flow, focus on DFW areas with strong job growth, infrastructure investment, and limited housing supply—such as Frisco, Arlington, and Rockwall.

Seeing that you are moving for job reasons, I would probably suggest option 4 until you learn if Seattle is going to be a permanent answer.

One way to save some money, especially if you are local is to split the job. 

That 2nd requirement is  what makes it close to basically impossible with a W2 job.

(So therefore we wouldn’t have to pass on the cost of the repair to him ie. the tenant).Now, several months later, I contacted the contractor to ask if he would be to provide a price estimate for a different job at our house.

Hello BP community,It's nice to see so many discussions from like minded people!

My goal is to buy one rental per year with price between 150k-250k for the next ten years (if i get to keep my job).