How I got started was that I purchased a condo in an "A" class area of Minneapolis to test the waters. 

In Minneapolis market I see people getting into buy&holds at 4caps, regular single family or small multi and there happy at 4 caps based on best case self managing numbers, no contingency or reserves.....

In my current city of NYC or my hometown on Minneapolis-St.Paul prices are comparably high, and I'm under the impression that laws are more favorable to renters.Are there any east coast markets close to NYC you would recommend looking into?  

This is a deeper conversation, but just wanted to inform that investing as a cash-flow investor in Minneapolis/Saint Paul has been a thing and will be for a while.Along that note, most of the money I made so far in real estate has been through forced equity and appreciation. 

Not seeing a ton of great deals in the Minneapolis market.

from pic above, there's no affordability problem if you live in Minneapolis or Ohio.There could be affordability issue if you live in most CA/NY/FL/WA city only BUTeven from the vicinity of bay area, one could still purchase condo for 300k only, MH for 200k only, condo in San Francisco for 350k only and house for 400k.You just need to lower your standard to be able to affordable a house LOLSo the issue with affordability is only in the most expensive 10 cities only.

More rural Georgia or North Carolina, or even a suburb of Cincy or Minneapolis or Louisville.

Where I'm at (Minneapolis), anything less than 1% would be considered light. 

For example, I know almost everything in Minneapolis sells between 7x to 9x.

Sounds like the Minneapolis market.