Outside of that you can look at crime rates, etc but having a boots on the ground or local expert would be the best benefit of where to look in a specific market.

I attended seminars, joined meetup groups, and regularly invited local professionals for coffee to learn from their experiences.

The only people that can truly answer your questions are the local brokerages.

Remember, even your regular 401k/IRA money when you eventually take money out, will cost you a decent chunk of change for income taxes (oh, and state and local too depending on where you live).

If you ever stop rolling over to new dsts and paying that 10-18% in fees, then you’ll owe all those taxes anyway…It reminds me of the large local swap meets, gun shows, craft shows, etc etc etc….    

.- consider investing out of state if your local market is not cashflow-strong.- set your 'living off rental income' financial goal to ~2x what you actually spend every month, just in case. i wouldn't let go of my other income streams until that point, but that's a personal comfort level.- if you CAN live off other active income, you can keep reinvesting your rental income and build wealth faster. david green preaches this on the podcast a lot: find a job you aren't trying to get away from.

You can start with reading his books (Multifamily Millions) and go to a local seminar when they are in town.

Investing out of state can be a good option if your local market isn't a good fit.

A great way to find a good team member (contractor, agent, partner, attorney, lender, PM, etc.) is at a local Real Estate Investor meetup.

I'd highly recommend looking at going to the Investor lab events or join the local REI.