., Ive looked into STR  for quite some time and its been challenging with all these str laws changing and low occupancy on slower months, so i decided to look into the buy and hold long term rental.

Without the experience, you will undoubtedly do things in the wrong order, do things much slower, and overspend on labor and materials as you don't typically have the buying/purchasing power that an experienced GC has.

I also know from personal experience that area has a stable and abundant source of tenants from the two major teaching hospitals and the medical school. ( I was a resident at Case myself and have a good knowledge of the rent and neighberhoods).

Here are some great articles discussing Grand Rapids. http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2016/01/27...http://www.forbes.com/sites/ingowinzer/2016/07/29/...http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20150607/NEWS/306079987/planners-seek-to-make-grand-rapids-medical-mile-a-healthy-place-tohttp://fox17online.com/2015/03/17/grand-rapids-rental-vacancy-rates-lowest-in-country/http://mibiz.com/item/22318-grand-rapids-said-to-have-lowest-rental-vacancy-in-the-countryhttp://www.michigan.org/blog/guest-blogger/three-reasons-why-grand-rapids-is-beer-city-usa/

By the way, I am 60 years old and I have been learning about real estate investing for about 19 months while I am recovering medically.  

We are living in Heber City, and my wife and I both work in the medical profession.  

This is one of the reasons low value properties are a much slower path to wealth growth.

If you are ok with having many different properties (single family), then you have to understand it most likely will be a slower process.

Florida is a legislative state which means it was slower than other states in getting the foreclosed inventory on the market.  

The influx of people into Houston is probably slower in this oil environment so there may be a market correction here and there, but I don't see a 2006 sized bubble being formed - just a shift back to "normal" prices due to lower buyer demand, even-ing the playing field between buyers and sellers.