Buy and hold out of state a good idea?

[Matt Castillo]

Hi everyone I am looking to get started in real estate investing and have been searching for my first buy and hold property. I live in the San Francisco bay area and it seems that it is pretty tough to find a cash flow property around this area, especially in my price range (150,000- 250,000). I have seen some properties in the Stockton area but have read on this website and other forums of all of the horror stories with other investors in that area so I am a bit skeptical about buying my first investment property there. 

However I have been doing some research in the Tempe/ Phoenix area in Arizona where I went to college, and it looks like a good market for buy and hold properties. I am a little worried however about renting out a property when I am not in state. I am happy to hire a property manager as well but also am aware that its not always easy to find a good one from reading other posts on the site.

So my question to the community is : Would you recommend renting out a property out of state? and if you have done this before What have your experiences been like in doing so?

Thanks in advance!