There is a new medical school going in and there is great academic growth at Rutgers / Rowan.

For the markets I determine are "green light" markets, I will then start a dual parallel-track process of checking investment opportunities to see if the numbers work (generally speaking) and contacting and interviewing property managers to get their take on the market and begin building out a potential team of local "foot soldiers".The mind dump of metrics I came up with for my analysis so far are (in no particular order):Recent Population growth (2010-2013)Median gross monthly rent (2013)Median gross monthly rent 3-year change (2010-2013)Vacancy rate (2013)3-Year change in vacancy rate (through 2013)Rent as % of income (i.e. median monthly gross rent as a fraction of median household income)3-Year change of rent as % of income% of households that are renters3-Year change in % of households that are rentersMedian price for all SFHs (December 2014)3-Year change in median price for all SFHs (through December 2014)Median price for all 3BR units (December 2014)3-Year change in median price for all 3BR units (through December 2014)Median price for all 2BR units (December 2014)3-Year change in median price for all 2BR units (through December 2014)Median gross annual rent (i.e. monthly gross rent * 12) / Median price for all homes - I know I am kinda mixing apples and oranges here, but it's the closest I can get using available objective dataUnemployment rate3-Year change in unemployment rateGDP growth (time period depends on data available)Job growth (time period depends on data available)Household income growth (time period depends on data available)Proximity to major international airport (i.e. how easy will it be for me to get there?)

Account Closed  : Proposition 13 restricts the growth of property tax increases in California.  

What's going to happen to those who bought projecting straightline 4% rent growth will not be much different than those who bought projecting unsustainable IRRs @Denise Evans.

Growth will continue to funnel up the I-75 corridor for the next 50 years.

Cape Coral and Fort Myers is having extraordinary growth in both home values and gross rents.

Now, I am by NO means saying that a WL policy is the best product for growth.

"The slight drop in rates likely reflected concerns about weakness in certain data released earlier in the week, such as the drop in auto sales, but the market also reacted to stronger-than-expected job growth in Friday's employment report."

The plan is to play the long game, and buy with not only decent positive cash flow in mind, but also appreciation and equity growth if at all possible.I have about 25k saved up for my first down payment, but hopefully I won't need all of it initially since I'm looking to jump into the game via house hacking (buying a duplex, triplex, or fourplex and living in one unit while renting out the other(s)) using an FHA loan.

I joke with my business partner that if we can scratch out a living in WV, we could prosper in other areas of country with good systems.I'm not of the opinion that southern WV will turn around anytime soon and show growth opportunities.