Purchase Prices and Markets???

[Jeffrey Collins]

Hello everyone, I have been on the site for several months looking at blogs and reading the forums.  I am eager to jump into the investing world.  I am reading several books and absorbing as much information as possible.  I am living in South Florida but buy and hold investments aren't really worth it when I run the numbers.  Between the property taxes and the purchase prices it doesn't make much sense.  I have two questions for the investors out there that have been doing this for a while.  

1.  How do you find markets to invest in?  I am most likely looking outside of Florida or in the Jacksonville area.

2.  How much are the homes you typically purchase.  If you have rehab costs could you tell me what your typical rehab costs are as well.

I am looking for an idea of what to look for purchase price wise and what markets I should be looking at (how to determine where to buy).  I know there are markets where you can make money that have higher purchase prices but I am primarily looking for markets where the purchase price with rehab is around $100k.  Thank you for any help you can give me in advance.  I hope to expand my network of investors so I can build my portfolio and leave corporate america.  :-)

Jeff