How to evaluate a market outside of where you live

[Dean Teter]

Hey Everyone,

I live in one of the most expensive areas of the country, Sonoma/ Napa/ Marin County, and I don't see having pockets big enough to invest in my own backyard. (No pun intended) I have an investment area about 7 hours away that I recently visited and the prices are very reasonable for a new investor like myself, but outside of calling realtors or PM's I'm trying to determine the best way to determine if this is a god area to start out investing. 

I did some high level research including looking into the local economy and determined it is on the decline (unfortuneately) 2% decline annually so I'm trying to determine if this is something I should consider or pass on. I'm finding multi-family properties between $60k to 120K which is crazy given my area; so I'm leaning it consideration but recognizing my inexperience as an investor.