@Steve DonovanI might explore the short term rental option for diversity.

@Kim Rose Huntsville is an amazing market and it is very diverse.

It is a culturally diverse city where students swarm to attend 2 well appointed educational institutions. 

You'll meet like-minded people and from there you'll find that your people have diverse professional/skill set backgrounds which will expand your network/friends.

Columbus is a great city for real estate investment because of its diverse and growing economy, its affordable housing market, its growing population, its favorable tax structure, its low unemployment rate, its solid infrastructure, and its excellent location.

Michael-Great question, have you considered, simplifying your investment strategy, spreading your risk across multiple assets, using the power of you 1031 Exchange, consider investing in real estate crowdfunding, you will not have ot deal with many of the complexities you just outlined, yes, still risky a any other real estate transaction, but, more diverse, more unique..... at-least something to think about.

The trend toward flat roofs is just silly in most areas (bc it causes water diversion problems, which then cause a myriad of other problems).

You can get short term cash flow in a lot of markets but if you're looking for long term income and equity, then you should be looking at markets with growing populations, growing jobs, good income and modern/diverse economies and industries.

@Chuck Holland , good point on the vacancy and diversity..

These programs are great to get started for A LOT of new home buyers with diverse personal criteriaDo you currently have a full time job and some form of reserves?