Where you look south to Providence and Rhode Island and see properties that still sometimes meet the various investing rules of thumb, here in RI we often look north and wonder why there is "brain drain" and most of the good jobs and employees leave the state for better opportunities in the greater Boston area, where there is actual economic activity and the tax burden (while not amazing) is at least not quite so bad.And in general, when I look at demographics, apart from a few cities like Boston and New York (and even including them), I honestly don't see a lot of people moving to the Northeast, versus moving away from it, for greener pastures in terms of employment, tax burden and cost of living in other parts of the country.So it's hard to "know what you don't know" and easy these days to live in a "filter bubble".

About me, I am so much interested in interior design and successfully finished 3 projects of renovation.

I've been playing with some ideas of designing my own, so what I'm looking at is an MLS "featured homes" feed. 

But I only see an issue if she is going to be your business partner or to be involved.I made a deal with my interior designer wife to help me flip years ago.

@Lori GreeneI used a HELOC 150K from my personal residence purchased a rental in 2006 before the bubble burst.

My best deals are things that look scary/ominous but are really easy fixes- luv garages that are titling, stucco that is bubbling, bathrooms that obviously are guts ect  so less experienced people run away Or create such a big $ buffer that  they aren’t competitive.  

Make sure to sit down with your agent and customize the bubbles of your search parameters, locations, unit count, and prices.

You will need to learn all of these components of a development deal: land acquisition, site selection and sourcing, zoning and entitlements, architectural design management, deal underwriting, financing, construction, leasing, property management, and sale or asset management.I would suggest working for companies that already develop the types of projects that you are ambitious to build in the future. 

I'm not sure if it's designated this way, but I'd say it's a tertiary Seattle market, but probably too far for any Seattle commuting.

A lot young folks are moving in from the outer suburbs (where once their grandparents/parents lived) and buying houses to renovate and live in Detroit.https://www.michigandaily.com/section/news/detroit-housing-market-sees-growth-attracts-young-people-cityhttps://www.citylab.com/design/2018/04/can-detroits-suburbs-survive-a-downtown-revival/558764/