Local or out of state

[Vika Bha]

I am a newbie and trying to find a market to invest has been very difficult. I believe there may be some general rules such as growing population, job growth, population more than 100,000, crime rates. But, I see other investors who invest in markets where the above factors are not present and they seem to be doing well. What parameters do some of you out there use to find a city/town to invest in locally?

Also, I live in CT so it is very difficult to invest locally when the state is currently "failing". I thought about Boston, MA but the prices are well above my price point of $50-100K or so. 

Out of state investing leads to me either turnkey or buying a property, finding someone to rehab and manage it for me. I have a 9-5 job which keeps me busy during the day. Turnkey doesn't seem to be too great of an option because of the above market sales pice. Going out of state to find a relator, getting rehab done of of state seems like it may be tough since I will have to fly often to check on progress and I won't be able to obtain that much time off from my job.

I am hoping someone out there with much more experience would be able to guide me, especially since I am new to this and still have a lot to learn. Thanks