Where to go?

[Maverick V.]

Hello all on BP! First off I know this question has so many variables and there is no correct answer but id like to hear your opinions and welcome all feedback.

A little about myself, I'm leaving the military next month and have been trying to find the right place to relocate to. I am from North Dakota originally and have spent the last 5 years in Southern California. My plan is to Wholesale and flip in order to fund rental property acquisition. I don't want to go back to ND, i just don't see that the market would support what i am trying to do, and the California market is to expensive and competitive for me starting out. I have no ties to any specific location. I can no longer qualify for traditional financing to purchase a property to move to , so id like to find a house for under 40k in a decent area that we could pay cash for and use as a rental in the future, or live in for an extended period. Id like to stay where its a bit warmer (than ND) but that's about it.

My first plan was to go to Jackson ms, the amount of extremely cheap houses was enticing and I was strongly considering this for quite some time, I talked to 3 separate Realtors that were of no help as far as getting neighborhood information. So I did as much research as i could online and found that all the cheap properties were in pretty rough neighborhoods and the local economy did not seem to support flipping in any significant volume.

I then looked into Memphis TN, again all properties under 40k were in rough neighborhoods.

I'm now leaning towards San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, or Houston

The only problem with them is finding a house under 40k for us to live in, I did find a few Manufactured homes in the country close to Dallas and some a little over a hour north of Houston, I would be fine living in one of the manufactured homes close to Dallas for quite some time, my only issue is tying up most of my free cash in a house that i cannot refi to free up the cash again.

Thanks for taking the time to read my rather long post and i look forward to hearing your suggestions!