Remote Investor, Starting Out, Seeking Resources

[Matt C.]

Hey All -

I am widdling down some areas I'd like to remote invest in. I have one house-hacking property in SLC, but homes here have gotten a bit too high to see any cash-flow. Looking for some less expensive areas that may not see a ton of equity growth, but should get a few hundred plus in cash flow each month. I have been hesitating on pulling the trigger for about a year now and I am getting frsutrated. Gotta make the jump. 

I am mainly seeking everybody's favorite resources for neighborhood analysis. I have a few that I utilize alongside Google Map Street View when I am really digging in, but I find I have to bounce around for resource to resource to get the full picture. Oftentimes, the data is at least a couple years old. 
What are your favorite resources?

Would also be interested in any suggestions for markets/neighborhoods that would be a good fit. On the higher end of what I am currently looking at, I have Twin Cities and Indianapolis. On the lower end, I have west of Detroit and some areas in Memphis, with preference currently in the Memphis area. If you have Realtor or PM teams in these areas, please let me know!

[James Hamling]

@Matt C. I can't stress enough what @Jonathan Greene said, you GOTTA get boots on the ground. 

The first step is analysis viability. Next is the boots on the ground tour, to see the good, the bad and the ugly. 

I recently spent a week in Cape Town. My #1 resource was the undisputable champion of market confirmations, just randomly talking to people. Taxi drivers, wow what a resource and I never hear people talk about taxi drivers. (I include uber as taxi driver because they really are). 

When I travel for a boots-on-tour I NEVER rent a vehicle for this exact reason, I get a taxi(uber) everywhere and I simply talk to them, what good, whats bad, where should I go, where should I stay away from, whats happening, are things getting better, worse, what do you love about area, what do you hate. Nothing can replace that ocean of front-line data. 

In Cape Town I left with a completely different data-set then what I entered with. I found markets of opportunity I didn't even know existed before-hand. 

Nothing can replace market confirmation from a 1st hand perspective.