Markets for New Investors

[Jonah Cervantes]

Hello—I am newly venturing into real estate investing after an undergraduate career in music. I have no real estate experience or contacts, and I have little cash and no job (current events).

I'm using my time to learn all I can about the business. I'm pursuing my RE license and reading everything I can. 

The more I learn, the more I see my goals coming into focus: multi-family investing (ultimate goal: 300-unit+ apartment complexes)—reposition as many properties as possible, buy-and-hold, flipping, or even assign contracts, depending on the deal). 

I'm still totally in the dark about location, though. I live in Orange County, CA and I hear cash flow is hard or impossible in this area. The closest market that seems more affordable is Riverside/San Bernardino. 

I hear that I should only consider markets I can access physically on a regular basis or can visit many times to "learn inside and out." At the same time, many successful investors I listen to seem to have deals all across the nation! Plus, I've heard great things about B or C markets in other states (Texas, Alabama, Arizona). How do I manage out-of-state investing as a new investor? Should I start local?

Could anyone tell me what markets/cities they've successfully invested in (small-to-medium multi-family buy-and-hold and repositioning, especially)?

Thank you very much for any help!

Jonah Cervantes