newbie investor - Should I consider out of local area investing?

[Orlando Hernandez]

Hi,

I'm currently in the educational process of my investment career.  I'm researching different niches and strategy.  I'm analyzing different properties locally.  I'm honing down on single family homes and rental properties.  

I haven't pulled the trigger yet but I'm getting close to it.  During my research, I also took the time to compare properties in a different city.  The market is completely different and from a numbers stand point it looks much better.

Should I consider properties out of my local area, same state, different city 50-200 miles away? 

Should I find something locally, even if it is a tighter market?  

I do think that "if its a good deal", it'll be a good deal here or anywhere else.  So I'm leaning towards local.  A 15% Cash on cash return is 15% anywhere.

I've read a lot and most of my reading does say to stay local, at the beginning at least, but i'm curious to hear your feedback.

[Russell Gronsky]

@Orlando Hernandez, I started in RE by buying a property in NV while I lived in Hawaii. It was a pain in the a$$ and I spent a TON of time hiring/firing property managers and my study of the local market was wrong so I ended up overpaying and the rent didn't cover all the expenses. I was out about $200 per month at first. Thankfully, the area was on the up and I was cash flow positive 2 years later. 

I obviously would want to be cash flow positive from day 1, if I had to do it all over again, but the knowledge I gained about managing from a distance cannot be bought at any guru workshop. 

Also, my experience was 15 years ago, before David Green wrote the book on long distance RE Investing. I haven't read the book but I've heard many people speak positively about it. Also, to keep your PM and/or handymen honest, you can hire someone in the local area to go look at your property and take pics/video or Skype with you in real time so you can verify what's going on with your property. It is easier than you think but harder than managing something you can drive to in 20 minutes.