New Member Intro/ Input on my first move

[Kenneth Croisetiere]

Hello BP community! My name is Ken Croisetiere. I'm 36 years old and my wife and I currently live in Gainesville, VA. I've been saturating my brain with BP podcasts, reading forum discussions, and reading REI books. My first few purchases will definitely be Buy-and-Hold properties with a focus on cash flow, but obviously appreciation would be icing on the cake. My goal is to start out buying cash-flowing properties (SFR or MFR) at a lower cost (approx $100k - $150k) to gain experience, then maybe graduate to either nicer/more expensive properties or bigger MFRs. My local market (washington, DC) is definitely on the expensive side. It is hard to make the numbers work in the class-A neighborhoods, so I basically have 2 options that I am comfortable with: First, I could purchase a $100k-$150k property within 1.5 - 2 hours away, however most likely these properties would only meet the 1% rule. My other option is to purchase a $100k-150k property in a totally different market (6 hours away) and have them managed by a property management company. These properties would still be in B or C neighborhoods. Most likely the properties in the long-distance market would meet the 1.75-1.85% rule. On a side note, without overextending my finances I will have approximately $40k total for the down payment and rehab. Thoughts? Thanks in advance everyone!