Great points, ZharaBirmingham has relatively steady and diverse rental demand, and I’ve seen many investors I work with have success with C/B class buy-and-holds.Location is key—areas near UAB, major employers, and popular suburbs tend to have the strongest rental demand, while C/D class markets offer solid affordable housing and Section 8 opportunities.

Definitely a lot of good opportunities depending on which neighborhoods you're looking to invest in and the type of properties you're looking for. 

It's the same skill set but the financial returns and community impact are exponentially greater for everyone.There’s no reason that we can’t and shouldn’t be the ones revitalizing our communities instead of outsiders OR worse nobody at all.There are less opportunities in smaller towns and who is in the best position to truly understand the needs of the community?

After some feedback here (yours included) and some additional calculations I agree that the deal was not going to work as a rental opportunity at those numbers.

This group is an incredible collection of midterm rental hosts who support one another by offering advice and suggestions, being a sounding board for each other, offering mentorship and collaboration opportunities and share our respective networks.

I usually use the FMRs for the area as a minimum rent, but if you can attract non-S8 tenants, that works too.Can you share any numbers on the opportunity: purchase price/door, any rehab costs, ARV? 

I appreciate the encouragement—I'm excited to learn from and connect with investors in this community.Right now, I’m primarily focused on house hacking in the LA market, but I’m open to exploring out-of-state opportunities later in my career.

Moreover, as others have noted, explore investment opportunities in your market before considering purchasing out of state.

Savvy investors can find pockets of opportunity within the market.

Each persons ability to take advantage of opportunities and/or incentives will be unique.Overall you want the find the highest and best use of your cash that delivers the fastest return.If applicable to an owner occupant purchase, the best use of funds would be to accomplish getting down payment assistance, utilize a 203k or HomeStyle loan (to force the equity), and to house hack.