Buying Site- and City-unseen

[Jeremiah B.]

So, my wife and I have run into an investing dilemma that we'd like to ask for some help on.

What are your thoughts on buying a house where we 1) have never seen the house and 2) have never been to the city? We would rely on the perspective of our Realtor and property manager, and do as much due diligence as possible online.a

Our local market (and any market that we are familiar with/close to) has a bad rent-to-value ratio making local investments have sluggish cashflow. However, we have a young family and are not willing to travel.

Has anyone done this? Anyone have any thoughts? Is the cash flow worth the risk?