Buying a rental property, but moving to LA

[Michael Avillion]

Never bought a home. Learned about real estate through a friend, and just started reading about it this past week! My wife and I are moving to LA (near south of Glendale) this July for a 2 year medical training program. I have access to VA loan through the military. I want to invest in real estate, but am nervous about LA prices. My wife has a close friend who is also real estate agent agent in Charlotte, NC, which seems to be a hot spot for buying real estate given the boom in population. Additionally, I am from NC, and have family in Fayetteville, NC, so I really like the state.

I want to make a wise investment. We are saving for adoption and finally have the funds, and will hopefully have a new baby by the time we move. It seems Charlotte is the smartest option (houses in the 150-250K) range with a close friend who can help, versus hedging on good appreciation in LA. An option is we could rent for a year, then buy a home in LA and rent that out while we stay in our rental (wife wants to stay in one spot with a newborn). 

Any advice? Also, any good additional books? I just rented Real Estate Investing for dummies (4th ed) from our library. I am listening to "How to Invest in Real Estate" By Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin, and really like it.I am in the medical field and don't have tons of time to put into home development flipping, mainly looking for passive income to diversify and capitalize on these low interest rates. 

Thanks so much. I just heard about bigger pockets and this is my first post.