Do you have a system for investing out of state?

[Tyler Brown]

I'm looking to purchase rental property to buy & hold for positive cash flow.

Unfortunately I'm located in New York City, where anything remotely close here is far out of my budget, and regardless, this is not a landlord friendly location.

Specifically, I'm looking for MFHs (mostly duplexes) for around $40-$55k, which need minor, mostly cosmetic work, and can be rented for around $500-$700 per side.  The closest that I can find properties like this seems to be the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area of Pennsylvania, which is about a 2 to 2.5 hour drive, which isn't terrible, but certainly not a commute I'd be making a regular basis.  I haven't ruled out other areas of the country as well (namely the south or midwest), but that would likely mean a plane ticket and hotel instead of a day car trip.

For those of you that invest even further away, what's your process like?  How many times do you physically view the home prior to purchase, if at all?  I've read about a few people that arrange for Skype walk-throughs of the properties and never even visit them in person.

How do you get a feel for the neighborhood?  I'd also be open to the greater Philadelphia area, and a quick search on realtor.com shows plenty of properties in this price range, but for all I know they're in places that the police are afraid to visit.

I'm guessing at least two in person visits would be necessary, one to view the property in person to make sure the photos are an accurate representation of the place, and then another for the closing process.  Although with things like conference calls and Skype sessions, perhaps that can be cut down to one visit, or even none at all.

Of course a thorough home inspection would be very important in a deal like this.

I'll be using a PM company once the home is purchased, so hopefully I'll be as hands off as possible.