Looking to shift industries to one deeper in real estate to align with my passions.

People are trying to time the market right now and when NAR released June data I think we are going to see a shift to a sellers market with the # of homes coming on the market.

Keep in mind that the market, in AZ, is shifting and you will be able to offer under what the property is listed for.

Perhaps the market is starting to shift, however.

The supply on the market has not been great lately and it seems like most of the available properties are located in neighborhoods I don't really want to live in...do I wait it out and see if the market shifts in the next few months?

I will definitely be contacting you once im off my shift. 

Any where that there has been a big demographic shift and retail has followed the higher earning demographic to a new part of town.. 

I would streamline your process and start by phone/email screening to weed out non-qualified prospects.

Option 2) hiring a management company - would allow you to shift focus back to your primary job.

You will need to know factors such as economic trends, population shifts in or out, state laws and local laws (landlord friendly vs tenant friendly etc)... physical property hazards by season (flooding, rain, hail, fire) or in general (ie I personally can't fathom investing in New Orleans unless it was to AirBNB for the short term and then sell the property)   - If you can narrow down to one or two states, then I would look for "where are the tenants I want to deal with located" theres so many ways to answer that question but you may want to start looking in a major metro area... most states have less than 10 major cities or areas of decent population density.