I have read all of the "trends" and statistics but now I am Looking for feedback on personal experience in the Akron market.I appreciate it! 

I personally do recommend Columbus Ohio for many reasons.

@Lauren MerendinoI strongly believe that your chosen market should be somewhere that you can go to in person / have strong personal knowledge of / have family or a network in already.  

What RichDad does not tell you is that it takes a driven personality to build a portfolio and if you have that type of personality you will not enjoy a retired state.

Personally, my primary residence has appreciated around 6% in market value and I live in Levittown. 

I'm going to exclude my personal residence from this because I don't view this as an investment, I need a place to live.Excluding my primary residence my current breakdown is 47% real estate 53% stocks/cash. 

I spent many years managing myself and personally collecting rent checks. 

I am personally very bullish on the Phoenix market.  

I personally own a property in Windsor Hills Resort, right next door to Disney World, and we absolutely love it.

We recently relocated to Phoenix last summer and I'm starting to look for recommendations for local credit unions here in Phoenix which are trustworthy, low rates, personal touch, easy/simple to work with, etc.