CA new investor Buying out of State - Buy and Hold

[Drew Chance]

Hey Everyone!

I am a San Diego based real estate investor that has been fixing and flipping houses for quite a while. I am very interested in buying rental properties. San Diego as a buy and hold market is 1) too expensive for me really to get going. 2) The numbers just don't make sense (from a cash flow perspective). I have started to educate myself on purchasing rental properties and am going to be looking out of CA to purchase my first long term rental property. 

MY QUESTION: What is the best way to go about identifying a market to begin investing that is away from my home base? I understand surrounding myself with an excellent team of realtors, property managers, contractors is going to be key to my success. But even before that, how do I identify what a good market is for buying a solid investment? 

I have identified Texas as a state that I like for a couple of reasons: 1) It is a Landlord friendly state 2) No state income tax (does this effect me as an out of state investor?) I do know that people have a little more of their income to keep and will probably use that not their primary residence to some extent. 3) Price point seems attractive to me vs CA prices and mortgage/expenses will be manageable if I have to make payments during vacancy periods. 4) Growing population and strong job markets.

Am I on the right track with identifying where I am going to start building out my team of professional (PM, Realtors, Lenders, etc.)?

I have started with a simple google search of Best rental markets in the US. But it seems like a lot of people are throwing stuff up on that search. So how would you sift through?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ingowinzer/2016/07/29...

https://blogs-images.forbes.com/ingowinzer/files/2...

Thanks in advance for your insights!