Advice on out of state, multi-family, buy-and-hold properties

[Kevin Johnston]

Hi All

I'm very new to BP, and to real estate investing in general, so I've come to the forums for wisdom.

I live in California, which makes getting started in real estate rather difficult, and I'm looking at out of state markets to find buy-and-hold properties that I can rent out in more affordable range. The problem is, I don't even know where to start. So rather than shooting in the dark, I thought I'd ask for guidance.

I'm looking for an region where the median income is at least 3x the median rent prices, where less than 12% of the population is below the poverty line, and where the population growth over the last ten years exceeds 10%. Further, I don't want to buy in a flood zone, or in a high crime area.

Any suggestions on places to start? Or maybe places I can go to get this information?

Cheers!