I've been interested in the bigger deals since I started learning and researching REI as I'd like to have a more passive portfolio that will replace and enhance my household income within the next 9 years.

Resident, and any member of the resident's household, guest(s) or other person(s) on the premises with the resident's consent shall not engage in criminal activity, including drug-related criminal activity.

When that time comes, we're going to be a two-earner household with additional rental income and good credit, the kind of loan applicant banks LOVE to lend money to.That's why I continue to work my very flexible W-2 job.

These parameters will help decide what kind of yields you are searching for, which you can use to filter down your list of macro markets.Then I would start by looking at the macro market's fundamentals, that is the population, job and income growth over time.After that, I would look to see what the rents and home prices are and how those are trending as well.I would do a similar analysis, but at the sub-market level for the metro area you are considering investing in.Other metrics that I find valuable to understand are household income, poverty, unemployment, and educational attainment.

When you see the numbers broken down to normal household level numbers for comparison, it is even scarier.  

Factors like lowest property taxes, increasing population, median household income, low house prices, appreciation rates, etc...

I can't get excited about markets that have declining populations, low household incomes, high poverty rate.

I like households with a lot of people in them and might want to find something I live in with a few bedrooms that I can rent out.

If you have a track record of correctly tracking and managing your household expenses and maintaining a target savings rate for more than 1-2 years, then yes, I think the math leans towards investing in real estate (provided your student loans are at 4-5% AND your risk tolerance is in line with that decision). 

I am trying to position myself better financially, by paying off as much credit card debt as possible and trying to pay my students, and keep with the household expenses.