New Investor looking to cash flow, what should I do?

[Miles Yang]

I'm currently living in LA and looking to get my first investment property, here's my current situation:

- I have 300k available for down payment

- I have a somewhat decent credit score (in the mid-high 700)

- My household income is around 240k annually combined with my SO

My main goal for now is cash flow, and even though I would very much prefer to invest locally, I understand that Socal is not the most friendly place for landlords, through some research I can hardly find anything with a decent CAP rate reasonably close to where I live. But at the same time, investing out of state definitely kind of scares me too.

Now my options are pretty much between:

1) Investing in LA for cash flow, which would be preferable, but I'm not sure if it's possible

2) Investing in SoCal but outside of the city (thinking Riverside, San Bernardino, etc.) It seems like properties in these areas have much better CAP rates and I can visit and manage by myself in a reasonable capacity

3) Investing in cash flow friendly areas such as Mid west or South east. These properties seem way more profitable than those in Socal but investing out of state and the fact that I can't check out and manage the place really worries me(not to mention my complete lack of knowledge of the areas in general)

So here's it goes, I'm not really sure what I should do at this moment especially when covid adds another set of uncertainty to all of this. I'm super grateful for any help/advice, thanks!