I personally have rentals here in Houston, the cash-on-cash return and appreciation are steady.You need a team of local professionals like property managers, contractors, agents etc.A local Investor-Agent can help shorten your learning curve and save you a lot of headaches as they tend to understand the market better.You should select a market that will meet your investment goals.Here are four key reasons why investors purchase rental property out of state:Invest in geographic areas with population and job growth is strong.Diversify a rental property portfolio with markets that best match your investment strategy.Focus on the type of returns you’re looking for, such as maximum cash flow, high appreciation, or total yield over the targeted holding period.Operating expenses are lower in markets with fewer regulations, lower property taxes, and landlord-friendly laws.Finally, as mentioned earlier, it's crucial to build a great network of professionals to help you and to occasionally visit your property yourself.All the best!

She should understand this once in a lifetime trend of the magnitude of baby boomers coming through and the small population size in her group.  

Also, it has lots of job opportunities and population growth, and it's landlord friendly. 

I have been mostly in data analysis mode, checking into areas and studying population data, sales data, expected growth data and what companies are coming to the area.

Here is a list of markets to consider - it's actually not that extensive of a list once you filter for both affordable and growing and you're looking in MSAs with 1M+ population. 

But I’m in Texas and our population is growing 1,000 people a day.

I have been looking at places around me because I thought it would be the best way to learn, but I'm in Maine and it isnt a super populated place and all the multifamilies are extremely old.Am I going about this the wrong way?

Johannesburg has a land area of 1645km^2 and a population of ~6 million.

@Bob StevensIf I understand you, you got this at $1.2mm.Euclid, Ohio has 47,000 population. 

Columbus is the only Ohio market that has seen rapid growth in jobs and population.