Considering first rental purchase. Good or bad idea

[Matt Guignon]

Hey guys! I'm new to the BiggerPockets forums, and have been interested in real estate investing for quite some time now. I'm currently 23 years old, and am looking to make my first rental property purchase within the next 24 months. The sooner the better! Starting off, my real estate endeavors will be a side hustle, as I currently work a full time job. Here's my question/dilemma. I currently live in St. Louis Missouri. I have lived here my entire life, minus 4 years of college. I attended college in a small rural community in Northeast Missouri, which is about 3 hours from St. Louis. While in college, I worked for and developed a strong relationship with one of the major realtors/ brokers in the city. Furthermore, I'm very familiar with the city and the hot locations having lived there for 4 years. This particular market is also much more affordable when it comes to home prices/insurance/ and property taxes. My question is, do you think it would be a good idea to potentially begin my investing career in that particular city, and rent to the college students (which I anticipate enrollment to steadily increase) or should I continue to look in my current home town of St. Louis for my first property. I would love to hear some feedback, and pros and cons of both situations. The college town seems appealing because I'm confident I could get a great deal on a property through the relationship I have with the broker, and the fact that the property I would purchase would be easy to rent to students with a low expected vacancy rate. Furthermore, it is a far less competitive real estate market than St. Louis. Would love to hear some thoughts, Thanks! - Matt