This is primarily because the franchisor are able to negotiate lower or below market lease rates due to their guarantees and credit rating.

and it does not look like this is about to change.A few years ago all these numbers were lower, so in my book not that much of a difference.  

I'm a resident of the lower Hudson Valley and have not had the chance to explore that area up there but it seems like its close to a number of nice towns like Chatham, NY and the Berkshires within 15 min, outdoor activities also abound in all seasons.

And there are sub $100K houses and million dollar houses within twenty minutes of each other, but the market here is generally known on BP for the lower end.And to Allen's original point, while there is plenty of out of state attention, especially the lower you go on the price spectrum, there are plenty of people making money investing in this market (though they may not be chasing bottom dollar properties, shooting for the highest paper return possible).

It is an option for sure, but I'm not fully committed to it yet.

There is some very low priced real estate in Akron but the housing Demand is a little lower than rival markets.

I have 12-doors and I'm closing on a new duplex next month.Ultimately, the market you choose will depend on your goals.Looking for cash flow and lower entry price points?

I'd go with the first option-keep it in your name and divide the cost by 3.

But we basically followed David Greene's advice for finding a realtor in Long-Distance Real Estate Investing.Here's a summary of what we were looking for:* An agent who has experience being a landlord/investor and so already shares our perspective (looks for opportunity rather than curb appeal)* An agent who knows the Alexandria area well* An agent who doesn't mind showing us many houses and writing a bunch of lower offers* An agent who doesn't mind sharing their opinion about a property being wrong for us so we can move on to the next oneThere are many great meetups here.

You could use an FHA or conventional low down payment option since it will be your primary.