What would you do... areas for rentals.

[Matt Nichols]

I have close to 500k cash that I would like to use to invest in rentals and/or flips. I bought a condo for cash a few months ago in a great area that is getting 1%. With the rest of the money, I would like to leverage it and finance the next properties. I am pre-approved and ready to go. The area I live in has become short on inventory, and the prices for average in demand areas are not leaving much room to make enough return to make it worthwhile, even distressed properties. I am in central Florida BTW. I would like to start in another state, I am a fireman and have enough free time that would allow me to travel. My question is, with your experience, what areas right now are worth looking in to? I have read all the articles online about the best markets for what I am doing, but Im interested in what regular people have to say. Being limited to just a Google search doesn't give me enough confidence.

I looked into doing the turn-key thing, but I wasn't feeling it.

Thanks for any input!