I've found some smaller cities there with a wide variety of property values that are very amenable to investing- specifically Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Marshall, and Jackson.Grand Rapids is the fastest growing area of the state and so you have a lot more competition with retail buyers and other investors for undervalued properties.

You will find your most competitive options with the programs speciafically set up for flippers.I'll PM you the info. 

Someone told me about an app called plowz and mowz...Don't know how competitive it is, but maybe give them a shot?

So for a $200k property you'll need at least ~$20-25k ($7-8k down payment, $12k for 6 months of PITI, and some $5k for closing costs unless you roll them into the loan, which can be a deal breaker when dealing with lots of competition).

Multifamily housing exists in very tiny amounts in our area so it is a very competitive area of the market, even compared to our generally competitive market.  

I know it's tough because the market is so competitive, but that's the nature of the beast right now.

There's a lot of competition in the city, but most of us don't have a lot of knowledge about the more rural parts. 

How and what you do will depend entirely on the area you are operating in as you will need to do as all the other student landlords do to be competitive.

Alternatively, you can use cash to purchase distressed property in nice neighborhoods that would not otherwise qualify for traditional financing and/or the owner wants/needs to sell fast such that a 30+ day escrow to fund a traditional loan would not work ... in that case your only other competition would be from other cash offers, thus eliminating most of your competition from retail buyers.

Anton Watt the best city for you to invest in is the one where you can enjoy the greatest competitive advantage.