Looking for my first investment opportunity... but I live in Mass

[Mark Smith]

I am looking for my first investment opportunity, but I live in Mass. :(

I subscribed to Lisa Phillips webpage to try to find a rental property that is under 30k. She has been very helpful, but I've been having trouble finding a property in snooty Massachusetts for under 30k. I was looking at homes.com, and there are a lot of properties that aren't listed, but you have to sign up for the website to see what those prices are. The website is 1 dollar for the first month, but then it's 50 for the next month, so I'm not really interested.

Are there rental properties in Mass for 30k and under? Should I go to a different state for a rental property? I was looking at Albany NY. They have 30k and under properties, but then I don't know how strong the rental market is there, and I'm not sure what the local politics are, and I don't know how I would rehab it being that it's a 4 hour drive one way.

My buddy has bought 3 deckers in Worcester before, and he did good on them. But they are kind of out of my price range unless I buy a foreclosure. The foreclosure buying process sounded pretty tricky, and certainly not guaranteed that you'd get the house that you researched. Seems like you could invest a lot of time and energy for naught. I guess you could also get a foreclosure expert who could help you, but you'd have to be able to trust them.

So I'm not really sure which direction to go in. Looking for some help and guidance. Thanks!