RE is a lot more active and involved, even if you hire a PM and a GC which BTW eats up your returns.

In addition we do not accept any applications for longer move in than the remainder of the current month and the next month (so if tenant is unable to move in by march 1, they cannot apply until feb 1 as we are unwilling to go longer than that without rent and will hold another open house).S8 needs to streamline their process if they want to increase their housing options.Best wishes

Additionally, where do you research if an area has a good rental pool? 

As a limited partner, you would be able to participate in the project without being involved in the day-to-day operations, while benefiting from the potential profits upon completion.If this sounds like an opportunity you would be interested in, I would love to discuss further and provide additional details on how we can collaborate.Looking forward to connecting soon.

I used the 75% rule on the income and added it and my DTI without the rental goes from 24% to 38%.Or does it just allow me to just take the net profit of that rental and add it to my rental? 

Your best route might be to buy a 2 to 4 unit property that you can live in and rent out the additional apartments.

Additionally, since my parents are nearing the retirement age, I'd like to prioritize low-debt, high-cashflow deals.

After some additional research we have decided to focus on the aforementioned markets, but I will keep you in mind if we decide to look at Columbus more closely in the future. 

Do they value nicer finishes and design or is that additional cost lost on the typical tenant in that pocket?

It also allows you to search 400 property and property owner consumer fields, in addition to being a driving for dollars tool.