My advice to you would be " do what others won't to get what others don't" A 2-hour radius isn't impossible or difficult especially if that's where the best deals are located and the opportunity to change your life forever.

I have gone down the path of them buying it but the short story is the Wife wants to live there forever but the husband doesn’t want to pay market value and is happy to keep renting long term to keep his wife happy.

One VA loan for one consumer (marriage being the exception here) for one property that is between 1 and 4 units.  

Sorry, you may also want to investigate if DST’s can consume some of it.

Supply is typically in need if population growth is strong, rent growth is positive, vacancy rates are low, high job diversity exists and unemployment stays low.Other indicators to watch : Population age, upcoming construction, affordability gap,  etc.For resources on multifamily with regards to what you mentioned, if Costar or other data providers is too costly, I suggest :Business Journal - for your City of ChoiceMarcus & Millichap - Quarterly/Annual "Multifamily Investment Forecast", and other reports.CBRE - "US Multifamily Cap Rate Surveys" reports quarterlyIRR(Integra Realty Resources)CREXIMulti-housing NewsCP ExecutiveZillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report - AnnualOther market analytics can be found in tools such as :City-data.comstatisticalatlas.comwww.weareapartments.org/www.bls.gov/ - U.S Bureau of Labor Statisticswww.naahq.org/ - National Apartment Association

It will take you forever to get your rents up to market this way.

I've never personally put much effort into learning more about it as an investing strategy, but I'll say I have used the site from a consumer standpoint and it was awesome.We went "glamping" a couple years ago in a very luxurious tent with warm water shower and toilet.

@Kathleen McCabe Its time consuming product.

FOREVER!  

With people going back to work and business, the real estate market will start to function again.On the negative, consumer demand might not recover fully post-lockdown.