Hi @Joy Sanders Welcome to BiggerPockets.

Pure gold, @Subbie Kaur!

.^ while that is purely speculative and may not happen, I see that happening....Overall I think the markets we have seen grow over the last 5-7 years will continue to have good performance as these workers rebalance across the nation with the newly allowed work from home culture happening.

The joys of OOS investing.Those quotes are ridiculous.   

@Adam R.There are some investors that present offerings in a pure fund model, and would have more of the characteristics you're looking for.

From purely an investor's standpoint, is it better to go with a multi-family home outside of the city?

Who knows, you might come across a deal that works as a pure investment property, or you might find a deal so good it's worth breaking the lease.

This is often better, unless you enjoy property management.If your constraints are purely financial, aka you an qualify up to 6-12 units on your own.

But take time for joy...you paid off your debt. 

When I speak with my potential investors,  one of the questions I ask is whether the money they set aside to invest are purely allocated for investing after they have put some funds aside for a rainy day.