If the market is not strong enough for either of those, we will pick up some rentals and wait for the next appreciation cycle.Is your market saturated with competition?

In my financial situation, can I quit w-2 income and do something pretty strong with $300k to invest full time to grow and grow?   

Suffolk is growing strong though and is where I invest.

I did some research and decided it has a strong job market and population growth.

Homes all around us began dropping prices, but it didn't lead to more interest, so we held strong at a higher price waiting to see what happened. 

For the next year, insurance is paying top dollar for rentals, and after that, there's still going to probably be strong demand like before the fire. 

I'd also strongly consider getting a CPA on your team.

Aggregate data is only a start to your research. 

Under the 50% rule, $700/month is eaten up if the gross rent is $1,400, and the other $700 will go to the mortgage (I think it's 680 or so), which means net rental cash flow would be nothing...not a very strong case to rent@Daniel Burke Not *100%* decided, but that was our knee jerk reaction.

Jose,I think the El Paso market is very strong.