Is it even worth it?

[Chris Conte]

Hello all,

To introduce myself, Im a 24 y/o working professional in NYC who grew up on Long Island. 

Me and two of my friends who grew up together wanted to start either flipping or buying and renting properties in Long Island. We all bring something different to the table and I have very strong analytical, finance and accounting skills, while the other two are stronger with the handy work. Our combined annual income is ~200K

We have investors presentations lined up, but I wanted to go in with a property and what our plans are.

But I've been looking for the past two months and can't seem to find anything on LI/NYC, that seems reasonably priced. Everything that I've ran the numbers on a flip on has been extremely close margins, while looking to rent a property nothing is reasonable (ex. ive seen rent ~.5%-~1% of the purchase price). The purchase price is too high for rent. Everything is running extremely thin and we all discussed that we need to find something we SOME leeway, especially since this is our first project. 

I just wanted to know in the area, is it worth it anymore? Is the market so saturated with investors/buyers that LI/NYC is no longer profitable for small investors, or have I been missing something? 

Also something I've been looking at is buying properties in areas that are a two hour drive away, but we all work "9-5s" and will have no time to visit during the week, but again since this is our first project what is people's thoughts?

Thanks