Need help buying a home in the Midwestern US

[Malcolm Shuttleworth]

Hello all real estate investors!

I'm looking into buying a vacation home/possible rental property in the Midwestern US and hoping to get some advice from more experienced real estate buyers as well as people that live in the Midwest. 

I'm a Canadian citizen who has never purchased a home before however I have no interest in buying a home in Canada at this time due to insane inflated prices, poor weather and high cost of living. As a result I've been looking south into the US as I was shocked to see just how much more affordable housing is. To give a little more context one of my passions is storm chasing and I fell in love with the midwest after spending a good amount of time tracking storms/travelling in that area.

Right now the cities that interest me more than any others are Indianapolis, Fort Wayne IN, Chicago/Joliet, and Springfield IL. I'm mostly looking for a starter home to be able to pay off quickly and become more financially independent and as a result I'm on a pretty tight budget of 50K-100K. (Obviously any home in that kind of price range is going to be fixer upper which I'm totally ok with.) I suppose I'm mostly creating this topic to hopefully get some insight on whether the cities/neighborhoods I'm looking into are worth investing into or the home prices are dirt cheap because its a horrible place to live. 

I'm not too picky when it comes to quality of life, however I want to buy in a city that has a stable job market, not too much violent crime, and lots of things to do. But if its not the most desirable place to live its not a deal breaker. I am also an atheist so I do want to buy in a city with a good amount of progressive people as well.

Anyways if any users own homes in any of the cities I've mentioned above or have experience investing into them I'd love to hear your opinions on them! I also am open to all advice as I'm open minded to considering new areas.

-Malcolm