What I did was used the Airdna date(grain of salt), but looked closely at active listings in my target area.

I have a read tons of books on the subject, but many people I’ve found in rental properties are targeting long-term rentals and I believe we would rather try short-term rentals first.Thank you for the additional materials / advice - I will absolutely look into them!

(for those not in the know on the analytics, millions weekly is not millions of individual persons, it could be 100k people visiting 10,20,30+ times, and most often any connected person has gone thru re-targeting multiple times)There are some veterans out there who do well with less, although that's the point, veterans, they have developed skills and local market knowledge on how to do it in a niche manner. 

This market phase has made deal-finding much harder than 5+ years ago, but deals are still out there.I find it helpful to determine who you are targeting (maybe a certain type of distressed seller), and consider where their eyes are.

I agree 3% is generally my spread target or possibly higher depending on the area.  

Target areas, have follow up and establish systems.

I've been targeting NorCal markets now for a couple of weeks running ARVs between 70-80% with no luck.Is it appropriate to believe I would potentially receive a lower cost per contract & increased motivated lead flow doing the same in out of state, slightly more stagnant markets? 

Those 2 things will help us narrow down target areas to focus on some “45 mins from Boston” is a huge area to cover. best,Jon

Talk to Property Managers and make sure you have several options who work in the neighborhood(s) you are targeting.

Every property is unique.The book includes an algorithm that calculates both of these numbers starting at a baseline of $100 per unit per month for CapEx and Repairs and nudges that $100 up and down from there based on all of the specifics of your target property.