It's a leap of faith; but, if you plan for it and take into account what you will need to keep you happy and healthy, it is the best thing in the world.  

My wife and I are in NYC but her entire family is in Augusta, and every time we visit, it seems like there is a pretty healthy SFR market there. 

The uptick in multi-family construction, with 52 new units being permitted in 2024, underscores a growing preference for apartment living, further supporting upscale conversions or new developments.13210: The sales data shows a 28.5% increase in the price of 5+ bedroom homes, and other categories also saw price increases, such as a 15% increase in 2-bedroom homes, indicating healthy market conditions for larger family-oriented properties.

My research led me to Tula, Oklahoma with healthy major industries and development.I'm looking for single-family homes between $50,000 - $100,000 with three bedrooms and at least one and a half bathrooms.

By far the best measure of "health" is using %, because end of day were talking returns, and what matters in returns is what one is getting vs all the alternatives. 

word of caution... if you going this route (lot of houses small cash flow) you're going to want to have outside cash flow and healthy reserves. 

AND.. now we are both self employed... with no health insurance.. bc despite being healthy it is more expensive than my mortgage payment on my house...

Largely limited to the Stock Market.I personally think that we need a good, healthy, correction to account for the bull market we've been in since 2009.

to me have enough cash to do these things without having to tap into equity.. snow ball your mortgages after keeping healthy reserves its not like making a few hundred bucks a month is going to change your living standards so dont take a dime out of the properties focus on one and pay it off..

In markets where land costs are low and freight traffic is high one can arbitrage the high value of truck parking against the low cost of land and minimal maintenance capex of this model, yielding healthy cash flow.