I would be looking at outlying areas with the largest potential for growth in the next 10 years.

Treat your rental property business as a business and plow as much of your earnings (W-2) and cash flow (Schedule E) in to reserves, future down payments and debt elimination. 3G Capital has used this approach for 30-40 years in brewery purchases and is now the world's largest brewer having started with no beers sold.

Definitely no growth, but the franchise is one of the largest in the world that is the stand alone tenant.

This philisophy is perpetuated on BP, the largest REI forum on earth.

Just look and see who owns the largest parks, it's the people that have been in the game since day one or Corporate America. 

The only time there is a distinction is financing.

I've never had a partner and I'm curious to know if there's a distinct role that partners take in REI situations. 

My 3 largest lead generation sources for new investors are:1.

thanks @Chris Tan, i just wanted to make the distinction, wasn't sure if it made a difference.It just seems like an easy way to fund a purchase without having to deal with lenders (private, hard, banks) and without having to use cash.Thanks!

Check out some of Immanuel and my other posts for details backing this up but suffice to say Notre Dame is working with SB to bring in high tech industries, there is a new power plant going in south of town, it still has great manufacturing including trailer construction, it is on the intersection of 2 busy highways 80 & 31, and it is less than 2 hours from downtown Chicago which is one of the largest inland ports in the world.