Many major metros are "overpriced" for newbies because you cannot take advantage of economies of scale, so your choices are lower your profit standards or find a different market.

I am in the Metro Atlanta looking for a mentor/coach to teach me how to get in this industry properly.

I am a huge fan of Dennis Kolodin at Metro Realty. www.metrorealtyphx.com He is a really knowledgeable person who knows this market.

See what happened to the surrounding areas of other major growing metro areas when they were around Madison's size.

It's not 2009 numbers, but we beat a lot of metro areas.

We felt the Portland Metro area was a good place to rent (outside Portland itself anyway).

My advice although I am still a newbie:Give it a little time to get acquainted, Metro Detroit is very large and being from IL I assume you are not familiar with all of the surrounding areas.

I’m also new to investing and I’m looking for my first deal in the north metro Atlanta area.

I had 1 bedroom of a 3 bedroom by dunn loring metro for $290/month in 2005 in the prime of my frugality. 

Does anyone have recommendations for Private Money lenders that are great to work with in the Indy metro market?