Those big blue city refugees bid war fighting each other for houses are going for that perfect picket fence suburban lifestyle, flush with the cash they got selling their big blue city townhome or condo. 

I don't see a lot of 2 bedrooms in Chattanooga getting $1700/mo in rent, especially not places that are bought for $175k, so those aspects of the deal look good.The 1% rule doesn't take into account a lot of factors, such as upcoming CapEx, etc. 

This implies that the price is based on many factors including expected return and expected risk. 

Currently shooting for around the 500k mark as that’s affordable and lands me close to downtown for my preferred lifestyle, if it’s my own condo that I buy first.What would you recommend, buy your own home first or buy a rental (an investment property?)

I even experiment with what-if’s, like if the purchase price was 10% lower or the rents were higher, or i factor in no property manager, etc. 

Your next door will probably need more of a cash savings built up but it should be within reach in about a year depending on your lifestyle.

I realize I am leaving out subdivision costs and other factors, but you get the idea. 

UNLESS you're just running this as a lifestyle business and don't care about your return.

Soap box aside, OSAP is real debt that will be factored into lending decisions, so best to get it off your plate. 

Basically your INITIAL out of pocket is $0.....but then you would need to come up with the remaining amounts out of your own pocket (and don't forget to factor in closing costs).