However, given that I'm choosing a home for the next 12-18 months rather than a pure investment property makes me lean toward Chicago for the aforementioned reasons. 

My pure passive cash flow from my apartment rentals has recently surpassed our living expenses, so I quit my 6-figure Finance career to do REI full-time.

If looking for pure passive income I think your best bet would be to invest in a fund with a reputable company.

Start listening to the BP podcasts - they are pure gold!

And a bunch other stuff he said was lies too, AND he signed the contract on my behalf which is pure fraud.

Do keep in mind, we are not approaching this from a purely investment standpoint.

I am a Consultant that does some brokering capital, but work for private equity for 5 years, so your best bet is network and start putting together syndications, network with high net worth individuals and Institutional Partners, so you can start with pure private money and perhaps one day to be like blackstone, you need big Investors pouring in $250M-$500M on a Drop buying Level A premium Assets such as High raises and Other buildings over $150M is very hard and competitive but all dream are possible, every single one so network hard and work very hard to achieve a track record.

The published cap should be used purely as a guideline, whereas the final determination could vary. 

If you are purely looking for education, I swear by the podcasts and then reading the books suggested in each podcast.

Purely as an investment, we would choose other areas.