@Mitchell BoatmanSounds like we're in similar boats.

Guardian Water & Power, Inc. provides RUBS services for property in Alabama. 

Working with transactional real estate professionals when working out of state and depending on a power team for your success.Let me know if you have any questions.Regards,Joe Scorese

In my market, brokers fail to use social media to do any sort of marketing and are completely missing the boat.  

Knowledge is power and just looking for advise and suggestions on what would be a good next move.

I like to do a lot of my own work on properties, so I have a bunch of power tools and such in the garage.

@Lois Ginter & @Gunnar Sevart I absolutely agree that using a real estate agent can be powerful, but right now I only have the one unit so it is cost prohibitive.

Both are very powerful reads when you are just starting out.

That could be a powerful strategy.

I've heard two strong opinions 1) it's a bubble, so let it burst and then buy the next home 2) it's the last bastion of 'coastal' cities that is still undervalued and the flood of money and people moving into the city will continue unabated even if rates go up.I tend to lean to #2 from all the metrics I can look at, so it seems to me that I'll slowly lose buying power if the prices slow and the rates go up. 1) Buying the big home now (talking around 700k for this area) seems like the easy way out, and I'll gain the appreciation on it.,....but be highly limited in any other investment maneuverability until I gain equity again.