City planning,  development happening on a specific block, a new ordinance in a zip code, the sudden decision to eliminate STR -- so many factors come into play and you need to understand quite a bit about a market in order to make truly informed decisions (or rely on someone else who has already done the analysis and can tell you what fits your strategy/goals.

real estate website Point2 has developed a list of the best places for life after college, and Austin — home of the University of Texas — hooks the No. 1 ranking.The website looked at an array of factors to come up with its ranking, such as population growth, business growth, median age, household income growth, poverty rate, and housing availability and prices.Point2 considered only the 86 places that host the country’s 100 most successful colleges and universities, as rated by U.S.

When I've looked at places in Carbon County, I don't factor in any/much appreciation when calculating returns. 

You can also factor in a path to ownership.

A heat pump is much more efficient, even factoring in power generation and transmission losses.

I remember my mom telling me about a friend who was looking to sell her building and at first I thought the deal was to big for me; however, I looked at the location, ran the numbers, estimated repairs and the deal made sense if I factored in moderate rent increases.

Question of the day: What market(s) are you investing in, and what were your deciding factors on picking it(them)?

I am not a lender, but I believe the main limiting factor is how much of your entitlement you've used. 

If lenders do factor in take-home pay, would it be advised to scale back on contributions for a couple of months in order to get approved for a larger amount?

In my case I chose time to be the most flexible factor.