Jarrell is planning on a population surge of 50,000 new folks.

@Bryan Zayac  In PA, there is a state document called the Municipal Planning Code MPC. 

The 1% rule is best only used as a quick and dirty evaluation used to pick which property you plan on running additonal calculations on.

As for the areas to target, my goal in getting our feet wet as real estate investors--and since we plan to be living in Sac--is to find a property we can live in while renting out one or more units to help cover our housing expenses, which we can then hold and continue to rent out when we move.

If you are not planning to live in the property, then you are not going to qualify for an FHA loan.

Quote from @Daniel Tanasa: Another option is to get a small cash out refinance from the house you plan on fixing up, if is in financeable condition, and use that to fix it up, while still cash flowing.

Plan is to purchase a couple homes over the next year.

Hello everyone,I’m currently in the planning phase for a development project just outside of Santa Fe, NM.

I am getting started in real estate investing soon, and I want to plan for the best course of action.

You haven't told us anything about what you plan to do after purchasing the property, so it's not clear how important interest rate is in the long run.