That is where the challenge is because the prices tend to be much higher.

.: @Devan Dorzokit's hard to say exactly what defines a 'major' rehab but 60K certainly seems major I wasn't entirely sure if you had some specific types of work in mind that tend to be problematic.

It’s great that you’ve already started practicing with NOI and cap rates for evaluating properties, but you're right that smaller properties, like quadplexes or less, are often valued differently.For residential properties with four units or fewer, the market tends to focus more on comparable sales in the area rather than purely relying on income calculations like cap rate.

On the other hand, residential rentals aligned with appreciation tend to be more stable and are a solid bet if you’re looking at long-term wealth building.

Your options in the Iowa Quad Cities are going to be Davenport, Bettendorf, and our surrounding mostly newer suburbs, which tend to be more expensive and less likely to cash flow.

I am also a local investor in Denver and I would highly suggest attending some in-person networking events my favorite in the metro area is Rocky Mountain Women Invest, it's once a month, free to attend and the next meeting is this week on 10/1! 

Personally, I tend to be more “speculative” in my real estate investments.  

Also, I don't tend to buy linearly. 

Self storage can be great, but super easy to replicate down the street, so tends to get overbuilt.How about looking for an existing rv park?

As it has been said, I would tend to lean towards continuing to rent.