I am financially stable in my everyday life, but I don't have a chunk of money to put down.

The east side tends to have clients that are a lot more financially stable.

We give higher points on our screening if their income is 28-31% of income, we've found that to be our sweet spot of high enough to pay but low enough to stay put awhile.We look at a lot of other thing sin screening, like address history, landlord references, smokers, how often they move, how stable their income history is, if they have a bank account (most don't), criminal, etc.

A 1031 exchange has a very short shelf life and the commercial RE market is also very hot.

Also, all other things equal, SFHs will tend to attract a better, more stable tenant class (families) than multis.Multi's have their benefits to, and I'm not knockin' them, but SFHs are not without their merrits.

After having a unit vacant for a while and seeing previously-stable tenants leave huge buildings vacant for an extended period, I'm not going for SSNL.

But the banks won't touch me (yet) because I recently went full-time as a real estate investor and don't have the stable income history that most banks want.  

We are seeing great returns here and our market is very stable.

Additionally, this property type is often occupied by numerous long-term tenants, so it provides stable and predictable cash flow, allowing an investor to systematically renovate units without a significant spike in vacancy.Which areas of the metro are the most sought-after now and why?

Longterm would give me a lower but more stable income.