#1):I think that most young people that manage to get through childhood without a lot of trauma, don't really fully appreciate just how screwed up a sizeable portion of the population are.

Allowing for larger loan amounts with 0% down will accomplish that, since that VA funding fee is a percentage of the loan amount.Banks have started populating 2020 VA Funding Fees, so I think the following paragraph ought be accurate.One further thing that we do know is that the VA Funding fee % is also changing (unless you have a service connected disability). 2.15% is the most common currently, that's going to be 2.3%.

This could be in an area suffering from post-industrial decline, where there are few jobs left and the population has dropped by half in the past few decades, leaving the remaining residents to deal with urban blight and pollution that is inherent in the tail end of a boom/bust industrial cycle.

This info will give you a decent idea of what to expect and help filter down your search to a few cities.Some of the metrics that I find valuable to understand are:- Population - Home Values- Household Incomes- Rental Vacancy Rate- Homeowner Vacancy Rate- Poverty Rate- Educational Attainment Rate (High School/GED & Bachelors)- Number of Housing Unit- Rent to Income Ratio- Rent to Price Ratio- Population on SNAPS (supplemental nutrition assistance program) percentage- Property Tax Rate- Median Age of Buildings- Number of Structures by Units (SFR, Duplex, Triplex, Quadplex, etc...)- Median Rents by Number of Bedrooms- Unemployment Rate- Employment Sectors Percentages - Owner to Renter Ratio- Family and Household SizesThese are just some of the indicators that will help you understand the quality of an area as well as the kinds of returns one is to except.Also take into consideration the direction in which each of these market indicators are trending.

Look at population growth and business climate of the location.

In OKC population is slowing increasing, appreciation is low but because we're not set up in a way that we appreciate rapidily we also don't have steep drops in value during the downturns.

@John Falco We chose Raleigh/Durham due to strong market indicators relating to population growth, tech job growth & economic diversity and great rental growth.

You have people who have vacation homes that are only occupied for a few months a year, vacation rentals, and many people living on their own meaning you need more houses despite the fact that the population may be stable.

After 5years, i would have already paid the loan down by $100k+ Appreciation: I don't want to gamble on the future value, but historically prices have been going up, the average appreciation of Las Vegas in the past 20yrs was 3.45% - the population is growing, tons of jobs created - however the city is surrounded by mountains, so there is only so much dirt left to build on.

In regards to the Greater Tampa area and a majority of its suburbs, apart from those with an overwhelming population of retirees, I do not see it having much of a lasting effect.