Newbie Investing in Central/Eastern Massachusetts or Out of state

[Brendan Wood]

Hello All,

I am a young professional (24) in Boston working at a software company fulltime. As rents are high, but price to rent ratio is even higher (20-1 to 30-1 depending on the area) I am stuck with making a decision between renting to live and investing out of state, to then eventually buy in Ma and househack when prices are low; start househacking now; or wait till a dip in the market to start investing all together. Although no one knows when a dip or recession will be, I fear the money I will save on cost of rent will be wiped away with an eventually decline, however investing out of state seems fairly risky for a new investor especially if there needs rehab work. I know this is a lot and I obviously havent made up my mind as to what to do, but does anyone familiar with the Boston market either know areas to find value or have insight as a good option based on this market situation?

Thanks