I am considering purchasing a new home as a buy and hold investment in an up and coming area of Houston. The house would cost between 200k and 230k, and the rent for would be between 1600-2000 respectively. There are a few reasons I am considering this:

1. The property is experiencing a boom as people move further and further out of the city.
2. The property is in a great school district. 
3. The property taxes are almost half of what they would be in the other parts of the city I normally purchase in ($2k vs $4k)
4. The new house theoretically will have a considerably lower cap x cost than the 30-60 year old homes I normally look at. 

There are a couple things that I'm not sure about though:

1. The house doesn't meet the 1% rule (it will after my down payment, but not before)
2. This neighborhood has a decent number of other rental properties in it already. I don't know if this is good or bad.  

Any advice would be appreciated. 

I buy new build small apartment bldgs so i like the idea.... i dont know what the 1% rule is, but have you calculated what your cash flow will be each month? Generally with new builds you dont have large cap x but you will still have repairs etc....  also, after 5 years things will start to need work...  but other than that run the numbers and see what you think :)