If you can find a 1% deal walk-able to downtown, I'd take it but only because I'm a firm believer that medium-largish downtowns with highly intellectual populations will continue to boom as populations continue to stratify and group together.

I've heard of people looking at populations and jobs growth and inventory levels.

Larger areas (more population and more transactions) there service was not as good or as adaptive to my needs.  

What kinds of parameters would you look for - population growth, job growth, school systems, etc.?

It's what I love most about BP.My ideal first-time rental would be:a 3+/2+in a solid middle-income neighborhood populated mostly by owner-occupantsbuilt within the last 20 yearsin good shape requiring minimal repairsable to cash flow at 10+% Cash-on-Cash Returnowner-financed, so no bank mortgage would be required.Now, getting all of these would be a grand-slam, but even 4 out of 6 would be a pretty sweet deal!

Your biggest issue is the low population in your area (under 1,500 as per Google).

I read about the aging population etc. and how it should be a tailwind for this type of market, but I think it's possible that as more and more of the baby boomer pass away, run through retirement funds (something like 60+% of retirees have less than $100k), unfunded pensions that never come to fruition, move into nursing homes, etc. that the price appreciation in the area is muted as there will be more and more supply in the market despite more and more investment money sloshing around.

What you really need to worry about is overall population growth/decline and household formation. 

The campus is the second largest campus in the nation, so they have plenty of land and resources to keep up with a growing student population.

A local real estate agent told me they expect a 10% population increase over 5 years.