Guidance for new investor from CA

[Bryan Kurtz]

Hello all,

I recently joined the bigger pockets community and have really enjoyed the amount of information and tools here available to make investing in real estate easier. I am looking to make an active switch in my career from working a 9-5 towards building my own wealth in real estate.

As I look to initiate my strategy, I am having trouble on what is the better option. In many of the books I've read, it has been mentioned to start in your local area within 150 miles or 2 hours from where you live. The problem is that I live in the SF Bay Area currently (the highest-priced real estate market). On one hand, I want to leverage the strategy of staying local because I want the hands-on experience to work with my properties first-hand.

On the other, it seems to me that going out-of-state is the best option for getting started with lower property prices and better cash-flow. 

Does anyone have suggestions on how they got started in an overpriced market? Would it be ill-advised to invest out-of-state as a new investor? Or is it preferable to stay in your local area for deals that you can possibly source in cheaper surrounding areas? 

Any guidance is appreciated