Chicago is EXTREMELY neighborhood and block specific, so the data can skew quite easily. 

(tuition, rent, and stuff like that are all covered by either scholarship or my parents helping pay for it, which I am extremely grateful for).

The great thing about SLO is that the vacancy rate is extremely low, typically about 2-3% due to the college.

But I'd take their numbers with extreme caution. 

Maybe record how loud it is and play for the 3rd floor tenant?

If your market isn't extremely overpriced compared to some of the OOS markets you are looking at then I would consider starting out in your backyard. 

The current landlord and his wife (who was the agent in this transaction) were extremely nice and very helpful.

You can do something like just see what the difference in ROI is between a house that brings in the 1% rule and a house that brings in the 2% rule and once you do it over and over, you will start to know immediately what price to pay for the amount of rent that a house will produce because you will start to understand and find your comfort level of how hard you want your money to work (If you are comfortable with your money working extremely hard and producing what may seem like a higher return, "sometimes" you will invest in lower class areas because the price points are low compared to the rents). 

I'm sorry that my questions was extremely vauge and didn't have any details.

I can stay here and flip in jersey since competition isn’t too crazy, but I refuse to believe that it’s nearly impossible to go to Austin or Tampa or any of these “extreme competition” areas and start flipping.