There are at least 2 hedge fund companies that have been buying up rentals in salt lake and davis county for the past 2 years (restore utah, llc and american homes 4 rent) which has driven the price up a bit.

The market is driven by the largest and strongest economy of the world, the United States. ( USA!

That is not bad for appreciation, especially combined with the still low price tags compared to many of the costal markets.According to 2016 GMAR data Milwaukee County is up 11% (driven by hot markets along the North Shore area like Shorewood, Glendale, Brown Deer etc who made up for the lower performing areas) the markets in Ozaukee County show even stronger appreciation with +13% ( driven by Mequon, Thiensville, Grafton, Cedarburg etc).

Almost every potential flip on MLS gets a bidding war and the price gets driven up to where its not worth buying it.

This is due to converting a once owner occupied areas to predominantly rental areas.Should you decide to invest in Birmingham I suggest finding areas where demand is driven by rent/tenants not agent resales/owner occupants. 

-Alternatively, I realize that the Denver market has been extremely hot, and am wondering if the prices have been driven so high that common real estate knowledge (such as the 2% rule) would indicate a poor buying opportunity?

Originally posted by @David Gore:(a) I have not signed a purchase agreement yet, because I wanted to make sure that I could get a loan with 10% down.

I'm very fiance driven and also ambitious.

I think a lot of us, as investors, are really driven...meaning that even if we could stop working we wouldn't...so, what we do has to be enjoyable.

I have looked into and driven around some of the fringe communities of STL and thought about what I could do to help improve the space.