My card stands out by the feel/weight of it. 

When buying a buy and hold, how much weight do you give to the current tenant situation?

What are best cities to buy a rental property.I'm looking at Midland, Grand rapids, Ann arbor, Kalamazoo and Lansing.I have 2 buying criteria      1.

To summarize we're looking to grow our multi-unit investments rapidly, probably with some out of state purchases that will immediately cash flow.

I have 4 rentals in Fayetteville and I run about a 45% expense ratioso 600 per month minus taxes and insurance is about ~450900 - 405 (45% expense ratio) - 450 = $45 monthly cash flowYou aren't going to get appreciation or rapid rent raise in Fayetteville, so selling it is your best option.

I have helped set up three clubs thus far and I'm going to be coming to the Grand Rapids area next week.

We know of a well-qualified couple (passed our screening, we had alteady filled unit) with 3 kids looking for a short-term lease (9/17 - 3/18) in Cedar Rapids area while they build a house.  

Properties which fall outside this range are not necessarily amazing deals (if <40%) or dead weight (if >60%), but properties whose operating expenses are 70 - 80% of revenues are unlikely to be "deals".Regardless of how useful you find the 50%(ish) rule of thumb, you should always conduct a detailed analysis before offering to spend your money.A {contrary} observations to the above two posts: neither CAPEx or mortgage payments are operating expenses.BTW:  Property taxes are not "double" on residential rental properties in NB.  

I have heard that the Dallas, Grand Rapids, and Jacksonville areas are hot for investors right now, but I'd like to learn how to identify areas that would work well for a beginner who is willing to invest out-of-state.

Or should both play a role and one has higher weight than the other?