I'm in Iowa and while not KC, I think the factors are probably similar being in the Midwest. 

You need to factor in your POTENTIAL upside. 6.

Is it driven by higher rents in that market or what's the underlying factor from what you have seen?  

In his experience, Memphis’s higher-than-typical rent-to-price ratio sounded great in theory, but property management turned out to be a huge factor-especially if you’re not local.

Currently content is a big factor is rankings. 

Actually the IRS does not tell us what we can invest in, only what is disallowed (life insurance contracts and collectibles).Allowable investments for SDIRA investing include the following:Residential real estate, including: apartments, single family homes, and duplexesCommercial real estate Undeveloped or raw landREITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts)Real estate notes (mortgages and deeds of trusts)Promissory notes Private limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and C corporationsTax lien certificatesOil and gas investmentsPrivate stock offerings, private placementsJudgments/structured settlementsGold bullion Factoring investments

What factors lead to this decision?

Morning Scott,  I missed this post and posted above but its worth repeating.

This article presents three key factors to consider before deciding that now is the time to sell/exchange: 1) regulatory, 2) economic and 3) personal timing.1.

Need to be sure you include the "unknown budget" and never take the optimistic approach as it is better to have money left at the end than writing more and more checks that were unplanned for.Again, if you can walk through an actual property and compare notes with someone that does it in your area (key factor), you will be way ahead of what a generic book can give you.