This will be your biggest ally when it comes to looking at deals and helping you find a property that fits the strategy you're after. #4 Practice using a rental calculator to calculate your numbers.

@Siddhanth Maheshwari  Work out a  budget and  decide what the  maximum monthly payment would be .....meet with a loan  person and  begin the  pre approval process   and provide them  with the max  payment amount  - the loan person should be able to  tell you  what loan amount this payment  corelates to .....once you know this ..add  your down payment funds to this max loan amt to get a  purchase price  ......once you have this - you can  then  look at the  properties that  fit into this  price  ...if there are  zero properties  -  continue to  rent or   revise the  budget  or   wait for  a  lower priced property to hit the market

It’s weird and has been a struggle to balance a social life, my fitness goals, and learning about real estate.  

You look at all factors that you believe pertain to your specific property, do you have other tenants, is it a quiet building, do your tenants work nite shifts, will young families with children be a good fit etc. etc.I know someone is going to jump in with the usual "fair housing" cry but you need to consider whether the applicant will fit with other tenants or if they may destroy your property etc. 

I am new to real estate. so new that I have not done a single deal lol. trying to learn a little before I make a move. my main question is how do you decide which market/town you want to invest in and what are the indicators that the market/town fit this criteria

@David Rosenhaus Anything that might even possibly fit that category - it costs you less than a buck to send them a letter or skip trace and call, so what do you have to lose?

However, we play to sell within the year and either buy another primary residence that better fits our needs or buy an investment property and use the cash flow to pay for our rent - that's the choice we've given ourselves.So, if we did go the investment route, I was thinking that I would invest out of state where the cap rates are much higher and gain enough cash flow to live almost rent free (I think I would need a cap rate of about 10% on a $700K or $800K property).

I will continue the process until I find one that fits my criteria.

I am interested in talking and networking with other investors in the area and learning a lot more then i already have.a little background on me, I served in the army for 8 years got out and become a real estate agent working in the columbus area, I love houses and people so it seemed to be a good fit.

If you pretend otherwise you might smooth the way early on but when you make your offer and it doesn't fit with the false image you have created you will losing anything you thought you gained.For example, the "we are a company, blah blah, buying in your city..."