Buying Condo/Apartment Out of State as First Property: Good Idea?

[Angelica Rose]

Apologies if this is not the correct category. I'm extremely interested in purchasing real estate and renting out rooms for profit. I would ideally like to be a live in landlord (rent out the extra room or two), however, I'm also probably moving back to NYC soon. 

I’m 27, no college debt, however, I may be starting law school or grad school in a few years as well. My thought process is that investing in real estate could help bring in extra money to increase my savings and help with grad school loan payments and providing long term cash flow in general.

For now, I’m exploring the idea of renting out my own property in Baltimore, while renting a room in NYC. I’m familiar with the area, I have family in Baltimore that could help me in managing the property, and if I purchase a condo or apartment, the amount of renovation and repair necessary would be minimal. However, my parents have a lot of experience with renovation and repair as home owners and they would be happy to help with that.

For example, I had my eye on a really nice 1 BR 99k condo in a pretty popular area in Baltimore. I could rent that out until it’s paid off and take some profit, as the average cost of renting in that area is more than the monthly payments might be, depending on the downpayment. 

More details

My goal is to save up a down payment over the next 1-2 years, which is very doable, and then purchase my first property. Moving back to NYC, the game changes. Baltimore and DC have some pretty great programs to help first time property owners. Properties are also far less expensive, obviously. My research so far hasn’t shown any equivalent deals, on paper anyway, for NYC. There is a downpayment assistance program, but I’m not sure how much this would actually help me compared to the other deals.

More research is necessary. 

Sorry for the long post. Does this sound like a good idea? Any advice?