Newbie looking at out of state opportunities

[Sevan Serafino]

I'm looking to make my first income property investment this year, and hopefully more than one.  The thing is, most of the opportunities I'm considering are out of state.

Why am I considering out of state?  I can buy more volume.  This presents both a tremendous amount of opportunity and risk.  

My thoughts are this: buy out of state, buy many properties, hire a property manager to manage the day to day.  By buying out of state, I'm also forced in a way to be investment owner, rather than property manager.  This distance keeps me away from the day-to-day which would make the income as passive as possible, which is what I want.  That and I can accelerate my investment goals, which at the moment is accumulating income properties, more quickly. 

Is it crazy to consider my first investment (income, not flip) property out of state?  What are things to consider?