It's much cheaper than LA County, and I've seen some good opportunities come through the office.

You can get software built cheaper overseas initially but it is often junk and you still end up paying the same from all the ongoing fixes and have less adopters use the software because of the initial problems.

Cheaper mortgage rates can lead to increased homeownership, potentially reducing demand for rentals and making it challenging for rental property owners to fill vacancies or achieve desired rental rates.

The issue I found when visiting these places is that the nicer suburbs are not much cheaper than some of the cheaper areas of California (many single families are in the high $200,000's/low $300,000's so the draw is not as enticing if I can purchase something in my state for a similar price). 

Granted I understand your thoughts about curb appeal, but it may be cheaper/better to go trim first and then evaluate.

Northwest Indiana is roughly 30 minutes outside of Chicago and has seen a lot of growth recently with several IL residents moving over for cheaper housing and taxes.

Seems like all 3 markets are competitive, with Louisville being slightly cheaper than the other 2 markets I mentioned. 

You won't see cash flow in your market, but the cost of the payments should be cheaper than $3,200/Mo and the negative cash flow will be money that's going back into your investment. 

Before I purchase an annual package, I was wondering if you all knew of any other sites that do the same as Brighinvestor, but cheaper.  

You can't find land in Piney Point cheaper than houses in 77063, the proximity doesn't mean it gets an associated up charge.The Heights(77008) post recession has been one of the best neighborhoods in Murica, let alone Houston.FWIW, I'm deep there and 77007(near Memorial Park).