Rentals in the poor country

[Mel Brooks]

Hi y'all, thank you all in advance for your help. I'm a newbie and am just brainstorming. I'm a single stay at home mom with a 7 month old baby and when my divorce is final I will get a fairly big chunk of change. I'm thinking about getting some investment properties in the middle of nowhere (hour/hour and a half away). I'm in the Dallas area and an hour away is the poorest county in Texas. I'm thinking about buying a cash home there fixing it up, refinancing it to get as much money back out as possible and then renting it. Then if/when things hopefully go well with the tenent move on to the next and so forth. 

My parents have a rental and my sister has two. Their rentals are nice homes in the suburbs. The ones I'm thinking about buying that I can actually afford will need some work. 

My soon to be ex has family in that county, two teenage brothers still at home, they are really handy and I'm still on good terms with his family. I MIGHT pay them to help me out with repairs/help out as needed. 

So what do you think? Should I go for it? Should I try to think of another way to use the money? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!