Where Should I Invest?

[Derek Elliott]

Hey everyone. 

My name is Derek Elliott. I'm a screenwriter living in Los Angeles. Brand new to REI. My journey began with a book called A Happy Pocket Full of Money. That led me to Rich Dad Poor Dad, which got me interested in rental property investing, which obviously then led me to BiggerPockets.

I've been very committed to learning / doing my research. I'm all over the Real Estate Rookie podcast. I've read a few of Brandon Turner's books. Currently on David Greene's about out of state investing.

My goal is to close on one property in 2023.

I'm ultimately interested in out of state single family buy and hold properties, in the $100k range. I'm getting to the place where I feel ready to start looking for leads and analyzing deals. The thing I've been bumping up against though is figuring out where to invest. Zeroing in on a specific market feels a bit overwhelming, and has been preventing me from making progress.

Does anyone have advice on how to make the process of searching for and ultimately choosing an out of state market feel less daunting?
I would love to hear about everyone's experiences when they were first getting started with investing in out of state markets. And if you'd be willing to offer your personal preferences or suggestions on specific markets to start looking into that would be incredibly helpful as well.

Thanks for your time!

Derek