It's mind boggling to me when I come across people (mostly realtors or people heavily in the RE industry) that have zero retirement other than rent houses.

I can tell you honestly (from investor's point of view), it isn't because of my husband was a Buckeyes alumni, but we invested heavily both in Columbus & Indianapolis...Nothing can beats Columbus in terms of Cash Flow & Appreciation when you bought it 3 years ago.

This is largely due to major companies such as Intel, Honda, Nationwide Children's Hospital, and Wexner Medical Center investing heavily in the area and creating numerous job opportunities. 

I think with the turnkey model we rely pretty heavily on the company to know which areas to absolutely avoid.  

These collars can run beyond deals, since they are on Fund level debt, and there have been times where markets moved where they were heavily in the money on their puts and sold to othe groups.  

Commercial properties are indeed valued based off market cap rate and NOI.They do take price per door into consideration but the income is more heavily leaned on.

Are there any lesser known STR markets that aren't heavily invested in yet that have a lot of growth potential or just great cash flow?

I've been developing a software program for analyzing all types of real estate deals and have been working heavily on the syndicating section.

So the area as whole is becoming heavily rental only with little appreciation and rent increases over time.  

This is largely due to major companies such as Intel, Honda, Nationwide Children's Hospital, and Wexner Medical Center investing heavily in the area, creating numerous job opportunities.