Local vs. Long-Distance for First Property

[Jaheen Ahsan]

Hello,

I am Jaheen, and I'm looking to invest in real estate now that I have a full-time job for the first time. I'm trying to get a property within the next year or two after I save up a bit, but my biggest struggle is determining where to invest in a property, and here is why: I was going to find a property within my hometown since that’s really the only area I truly understand at the moment, but it turns out that the median price for a home here is around $700,000 (yikes), so I'm not too sure if that’s really the right move for me. I’m wondering if looking long-distance is a better move instead for my first property so that I can get started sooner. Anyone have thoughts on this as well as any recommendations for first steps?