I live in an expensive area and the numbers aren't working

[Casey Gocel]

I've been researching REI'ing for the past 6 months and I have yet to purchase a property. I live in New Jersey where property values and property taxes are very high. I don't have any construction experience, so I figured I should avoid flipping. Instead, I've been focusing on rental properties, specifically vacation rentals at the Jersey shore. The numbers just don't add up. Even with a multi-family, the best ROI I can get is like 3%. I've been looking at properties between $500-600K and the monthly rents are only $2,000-$2,400 (roughly 4%).

I've also looked into properties that are not vacation rentals, but the numbers are roughly the same in this area.  4% is clearly not going to work.

Flipping seems to be the better choice in this area, but that makes me nervous since I don't have construction experience and I will have to sub out all of the construction work and I fear I could lose all of my profit that way. 

I'm starting to get frustrated that I can't find a deal that works.  I'm determined to buy a property this year, but I don't want to buy something unless I can make the numbers work.  

Do any of you out there in the BP Community have a similar problem with living in a high-priced area? Does anyone have any suggestions for me?  I'm very eager to start investing!

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have!