Western Massachusetts, small population concerns

[Daniel Ashman]

I'm pretty new to real estate. My goal is to start out small, like with a mobile home or a duplex, and then expand rapidly with work and study, preferably into commercial real estate.

I may be living in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. It's just 125,000 people for Berkshire County with Pittsfield the largest place with 40,000 people.  Other than that, it seems pretty sparsely populated.  Population is slowly declining.  Albany and Springfield both have 100,000 people but they're an hour away.

Any thoughts on this being an area for real estate investment? Is it reasonable to shoot for expansion and getting rich via real estate in this area? Or maybe it's an okay place to snipe a few small deals to get started but it is just too small to get serious?

Thanks for any thoughts on this!!!