That will definitely determine the neighborhoods you should be looking into, regardless of the metro area you choose.Columbus is definitely booming, Cincinnati is growing too.

The place has been booming last few years.

I do see house prices normalizing on the case-Schiller interest rate vs house price chart which is what we would covet at the middle to the end of a boom cycle .

I'm seeing a lot of buzz about the rust belt but am not sure what the actual market is like locally or if the boom is temporary, also I'm open to exploring other affordable metros. 

West Mobile, Saraland, and Midtown are starting to boom, however, pick the wrong street and the returns are extremely diminished. 

It can be very hard to get a contractor/subs/materials as there is a pretty major building boom right now.  

Hello, in the PNW, the market is booming!

John's is becoming a more diversified economy lately though, with a booming tech sector, and it's the capital and only real major city in the province so things are looking up for the market. 

That's over an hour with decreased commuter volume with major companies such as Amazon (responable for the population boom) tellacummuting in response to Covid-19.

As most people would know Sydney and Melbourne have just gone through quite a large boom, followed by a small correction.