Our professional approach and almost 20 year history gave us an edge over the unintentional landlords sitting on an empty homes they’d moved from.Ironically, our State’s anti-growth policies combined with a hyperactive business climate have forced extreme appreciation and rent growth throughout our region.  

It's a really unique state with everything from desert to lakes and boating, skiing, hiking, golf, literally anything you want to do outdoors and they have the climate and topography to do it. 

With the constantly increasing prices, it has become increasingly difficult for those who are just starting out to purchase property in a highly competitive climate.

(Jumped from 1 to 10 since the following is not done in order just a weighting system that was used as filters:US News' Ranking of Univ > 300Univ Population > 10k (with minor exceptions)Cities Population > 40kMost recent Population change of City > 0% (cash flow mainly like I said, but combined with following could lead to incr apprec)City density (peeps / sq mi) > 1,000Rental Vacancy Rate < 6% (must use PM so high turnover is not super ideal) (yes, I know, base was college area... grrr....)Median property value < $210 K (risk mitigation)Median Rent (used with above for rough cash flow ranking)Cash Flow Indicator ( 1 - Rental Vacancy Rate) * Median Rent / Median Propert Value > (Iteratively throw away cities on bottom 50% of list.)Tax / Legal Friendliness of StateThen take the top 7 from above and review the micro investing climate (actual cash flow, Cash on Cash, etc) of turn keys.

In any case in the current world and political climate I strongly recommend working with a property manager even though thats an 8-10% hit on gross revenue (though a good PM is very much worth that IMO)  I would recommend trying very hard to avoid buying a single house to rent out.   

But the most important point you brought up is water availability via climate change.

Congrats on this and getting a deal off market in this climate!

I mean climate change.

@Craig Hormes Government paid rent is a pretty good option in this climate of high unemployment and not being able to evict tenants.

The climate, the variety of attractions and things to do surpass almost any other place.