Moving to Panama City, Fl area and need to buy a house to live in.

I scour the forums day and night and research many of the popular cities that come up but really, i'm not sure how I can do the research on my own from scratch. 

Its pretty rural with the closest city of ~5,000 being 15 minutes away.  

They know the market very well.Most of Huntsville is good for rentals as their is not much crime in the area as compared to many cities in the south around the same size. 

How to select a city?

I think New York is a more tenant pro state but I know every situation is different.

Assuming you have no other major obligations or constraints (i.e. family, job, finances) guiding you and could pick any place in the USA to move and build/start a real estate portfolio, which city would you start?

House hacking may still be an option depending on where you live, it just won't be as lucrative  there are many cities around the country where a single family home will have a granny flat in the form of an attached room with a separate entrance, a casita in the backyard or even a basement apartment. 

Here's the scoop:The seller asked the city to have the property rezoned because they were hopeful it would raise the sale price because of potential businesses purchasing the land.

The surrounding cities are much cheaper and you may have better luck there.