Inventory has held steady at around 5-6 months for some time now, with roughly 4% more active listings on the market in the metro now compared to November last year.

It's like asking someone what you should look for in a wife.You need to focus on what your goals are first, then take a personal inventory of your own knowledge, skills, interests, finances, available time, etc. 

Now for the CRE owner, I do agree if you can find a value add 1031 deal at a good price, then you should buy it and the 1031 at $750 range is a much better deal!

https://www.har.com/content/department/mlsHouston Real Estate Highlights in November, 2024:-Single-family home sales increased 6.0 percent year-over-year;-Days on Market (DOM) for single-family homes went from 48 to 52 days;-Total property sales were up 3.3 percent with 7,750 units sold;-Total dollar volume rose 11.1 percent to $3.1 billion;-The single-family median price was up 1.5 percent to $329,900;-The single-family average price climbed 4.1 percent to $418,903; -Single-family home months of inventory registered a 4.4-months supply, up from 3.5 months last November.

When a builder builds a new house that meets my requirements, in my price range, I move out of my duplex and into that new house. 

But we’re starting to see this program gain traction along the Front Range especially with lower income tenants and properties.

There is no harm in reaching out for a slight difference in budget you can just say that you got there contact on FF and have an available unit slightly above their price range and tell them the price and let them know to get back to you if they are interested.

I talk to many of my lenders who are sitting on tons of garbage inventory they had to take back.

Another you could have done was to call a few other PM's in the area and get their take on the rent range.

I'm a property manager that manages along the Front Range from Fort Collins down to Colorado Springs and everywhere in between.