A lot of those 40k houses south of I-630 and in the south-west part of town are in depressed areas, and I'd be very wary of purchasing sight unseen unless you are VERY close to the university or have trusted boots on the ground.  

It's getting extremely frustrating, I live in a college town and I keep hearing how wi is such a great place to invest but I'm just not seeing it around here .

Towns that are on the train line area always going to be popular out there.

I'm hoping to find a few highly-experienced investors who can help me network and/or find the best real estate investors group in town, give me some ideas for finding and buying locally, and make some friends too!

Savannah is my home town and I have relatives and many friends there.I own a multifamily property in San Antonio and work for a commercial RE brokerage.

BP Nation,I'm looking at building 2 rental houses in a college town.

I recommend you save one for your local area, to keep up with the latest conversations from people in your town.

I ask since, I am in a college town and even "cheap" duplexes are in the $400k range to start, so if there are lenders that loan higher and take the added income into account it would be more ideal. 

Each town, city or municipality is different.  

In a lower key/slow growth town.