New Investor Still getting everything lined up Concord,NC

[Christopher Ryan McCall]

I have been lurking in the forums for a few months, but I finally made a account to post.

Past year or so I started digging into paying off debt and building a nestegg. Can comfortably say I carry less than a grand on cards and only outstanding debt is a mortgage. 

I am currently sitting at 25k over my nest egg and am interested in investing in my area. 

I know a few realtors but none that I know of that are investing in my area. I plan on talking to lenders about what I could expect and also seek out hard money lenders to understand a bit more about rates in my area. I have quite a few GCs as friends, one of which said he would help me through some of the steps if I wanted to self manage hiring to fix up a property

Question is: is it foolish to limit myself to my area? I would feel loads more comfortable with a property I can view and manage. But from what Ive been told by the realtors I know the market around me is highly competitive. Haven't seen a property that would come close to the 1 percent rule or maybe Im reading the numbers wrong.

Thanks in advance,

Chris