Choosing a market

[Kim Handelman]

I'm starting out. I know I want to buy and hold and I know I can't manage the properties myself. Because I would like to hire a management company, I would like to start with apartment complexes. I live in CT on the shoreline and am finding it hard to find anything that will cash flow when I factor in the management fees. My question is, I know I need to research out of state markets and I've read a lot on how to do the research once I find a market but everything I've read assumes I have some sort of clue where to start. I've heard the "Mid-West" cash flows well but that's a very very large area! Any way to narrow it down? I'm hoping to choose 3 or 4 areas to do some deep research before I begin to seriously look at properties.