@taylor @Taylor McMullenundefinedI'll first start by saying my niche market is mid level executive style rentals in east Abbotsoford priced between 600 - 700 k, just to narrow it down my rule of thumbs don't apply for all of Abby, just my "farm" area. 

One problem with all of the areas with older houses is that they are already outdated - low ceilings, narrow corridors, and so forth, and will only become more so with time.

This post is narrow focused.

Doing this, you will be able to narrow your choices to 2-3 agents/brokerages.

Rich Weese - I see that this is narrower by 1.5 feet, so not too vastly different, and of course it will be longer to get to similar total sq footage.

I've been researching cities and narrowed it down to a handful.  

You fully intended to live there for a year, but your life circumstance changed for reasons beyond your control.Now, if you'd REQUESTED the work transfer, that would be a very different story.And, interestingly enough, since your job transfer was >100 miles away, this is the narrow circumstance where you should be able to get another FHA loan, and count the rental income from the departing residence that's also in an FHA loan - NO need to refinance (as always, barring overlays).

A few questions to help narrow down your search:What's your price point? 

Definitely read this too as a start: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides/ultimate-real-estate-investing-guide/introduction- Narrow down your focus on where you want to start (location, building type) and what strategy you want to learn (ex house-hacking), probably best to pick one thing at a time to really dive into and get good at versus trying to learn every strategy in-depth at the same time.

You can narrow down to subject by utilizing the search box at the upper right corner of the page.