There have been additional high schools built in the area over the last few years to accommodate for the boost of population and rumored to be building another one soon.Martinsburg HS is a powerhouse football program and have finished in USA Today Top 25 of the entire country multiple times over last decade and have won last 3 state championships.

Historically this has proved very reliable long term but especially the property prices have experienced short periods of depreciation (virtually always less than 5 years) and longer periods of stagnation.I make no claim as to continuing property appreciation as I could make a decent case for the RE market entering a period of stagnation, the market continuing to appreciate, or the market to depreciate some.However, I am still confident of rent appreciation in my purchase area (San Diego) for at least the next few years: 1) rents lag property appreciation. 2) vacancy rate is real low. 3) cost to add more than ADU is high - it costs around $100K to break ground for residential in San Diego (permits, surveys, etc.). 4) Minimum wage increases already approved. 5) one of the best weather climates in the US. 6) rising population: one recent study had San Diego as 13 highest population increase of large US cities. 7) geographically constrained: Constrained by Mexico to the South, Pacific to the West, Camp Pendleton to the North, and the East quickly gets harsh. 8) good and varied employment: Hard to imagine an employment category melt down that could impact the range of employment in San Diego. 9) environmentally diverse from mountains to desert to beach to happening urban center.Last weekend I sent out 2 rent increase notices.

It seems like a field that you could value-add quite a bit, as there are a lot of needs in this population.  

My advice on doing this would be to focus on cities/sub-markets of those cities with the highest level of job and population growth, growing rents, comparatively low levels of rent/income from the tenant base, a lot restaurants/bars/hotels/other amenities, and easy access to major highways.

Congrats on surpassing the population of San Francisco, BiggerPockets!

I Chose Alabama for several reasons, Property prices have not yet hit the pre bubble prices (although they are now approaching it) The city we chose has a lot of government workers, up and coming downtown, and well educated population, property taxes are low, and a small growing tech field. 

That is 265 more students enrolled as compared to last year, over half of Wyotechs student population. 

One major reason is it is only a 60 min flight from 40 million population and 20 million in SoCal.

I would however do extensive research into the market you are purchasing in, what houses nearby are selling for and if there is job growth and population growth.

Made me realize this is really a turnkey market because lost of people looking for the cheap houses (80-160k) and a huge population of people live here are in need looking of rental properties.