I’ve spent a good amount of time running numbers and analyzing rent-to-price ratios, but I’m finding the hardest part is actually narrowing down which towns to target.A few things I’m keeping in mind:I like being near water since values usually hold stronger long-term.At the same time, I want to avoid areas with high flood risk.I’m focused on steady, long-term rental demand rather than short-term or vacation rentals.For those of you already investing in the Carolinas:How do you evaluate towns when deciding where to buy?

You can create wealth with either approach but both approaches are more challenging than in the recent past.At this point I mostly seek highly desired property locations such as beach or lake front, Mountain cabins, bonus if they are near a destination such as national park of monument or other tourist attraction, etc.

With a background in civil/structural engineering and lots of experience doing manual labor/cosmetic upkeep to properties in high school, I immediately found the BRRRR strategy enticing. 

That's too high. 

Has high interest rates ever caused prices to come down?

Prices are always a function of low supply and high demand.

Dig into every expense, analyze the comps in detail, and stress test it based on high, medium, and low performance using percentiles.

@Raja Sharma 5+ years ago you migh have been able to cashflow with 5% down, but highly unlikely now.If you add in the rent you should be collecting on your unit, what does that do for your cashflow?

High-saturation markets full of massive log cabins and tourist-trap vibes.

In California, putting properties into an LLC means paying the $800 annual franchise tax and possibly additional gross receipts fees if your income gets high enough.