It had also undergone some renovations, but needed quite a bit more, especially in the largest apartment, which was occupied by a section 8 family that trashed it and then moved out a year later.

Then I found out what was the top office location of that brokerage that was close to me. ( The actual top office of the #1 brokerage in the metro area, and 3rd largest brokerage in thencountry, was coincidentally 5 minutes from my house, so that helped) I joined that office, then I studied the businesses of rhe agents in that office, and copied them.

@Amanda Roderick, my grandfather's rentals are located in Bayamon, one of the largest and most populated cities.

I started with small multifamly properties, and am growing into larger complexes - my largest now is 24 units, and I'm planning on selling and upgrading again next Spring. 

This area is home to 823,000 people, the 3rd largest metropolitan area in PA, and has the fastest growing population in the state. 

If my goal in selling the home is to get top dollar I want to expose my home to the largest buyer pool possible to hopefully create competition on the home and sell quickly for more money.

The best current book on generic real estate investing (although he's also the largest owner of mobile home parks in the U.S. but only has three pages devoted to that) is "Am I Being Too Subtle" by Sam Zell.

Billings is unique as it is largest city, it also gets some impact from ND oil boom (then bust, now starting to boom again). 

So it makes sense to build up the largest possible stockpile.From the equities side: dollar costing in consistently over time into highly diversified indexes is a pretty proven long term strategy and by getting out of the market right now, I’m risking have cash on the sidelines that could grow and compound over time.Thanks in advance, looking forward to hearing what all you smart folks think!

I like Cleveland with the largest healthcare opportunity here, three large sports teams, and busiest airport in Ohio, and could pivot to a short term rental strategy down the road if MTR didn't work out as much as expected.