Looking forward to getting out of this particular rat race I am in right now. back in the day before the GFC I was the largest HML in the Jackson MS / Hinds county market So I spent a lot of time there..

Most of my syndication investment was with Atlanta unfortunately - I was the largest investor and likely to lose it all. 

It means stress is starting to show—and stress creates conversations that weren’t possible six months ago.At the same time, sellers now outnumber buyers by roughly 530,000, the largest gap ever recorded.

He draws in a great group of investors and also founded the Elite Investors Mindset Group, one of the largest local RE masterminds. 

we usually prioritize metrics like private insurance numbers, overall population, % of population in psychographic profile we are searching for (generally "YXB" from experian, aka "young families), FBI crime statistics, and then we generally layer in competition as well and have a "max competitors" in that zone.This allows us to go through the market we are considering, or state, or multi states as in your case, apply a systematic "prioritization" and then we get granular and look at each market and area that "qualifies" in more detail.The largest benefit to going with the midwest over your other markets is the long term livability and survivability in those climates. 

They are one of the largest property managers in the city and offer many different career paths.

, ask yourself "what's the market where I have the largest competitive advantage?". 

I don't have any other suggestions other then doing one of the three things above as a good starting point prior to giving someone the microphone to the largest podcast in the world surrounding the topic of real estate. 

California certainly doesn't make some things easy but it is amazing the number of people will say "I will never buy in CA" or "will never do business in CA" when it is the 4th largest economy in the world as you said.  

Places in Alabama like Birmingham (the state’s largest city), Montgomery (the state’s capital), and Huntsville (the fastest-growing metro area in the state) could also be worth looking into.I may be biased since I run a turnkey provider that operates in the Southeast, but I agree that turnkey’s probably your best bet if this is your first out-of-state property.