Need advice first rental property in Overland Park KS area?

[Zhaobin Zhang]

I have been thinking to buy my first rental. I'm currently living in California, which the living cost is extremely high, 3-bed townhome with good schools typically costs $900k, and I can't find anything with positive cash flow. Recently my friend found one $640k, bad schools, $370 HOA/mo, rented out for approx. $3500-3800/mo, not able to cover the mortgage. Since I used to in Overland Park, KS before. I was thinking if I can buy a property there. Since it's my first rental, I want to start with small, planning to put 20% down, <=$60k, thereby targeting something within $300k.

One question is, I didn't do comprehensive analysis of national wide, so not sure if Overland Park is a good place to start with. 

The second question is, I was comparing two paths. One is to find under $300k properties in class-B areas, but it seems I can only find some crappy over 30 years houses, likely need some repairs in the next years. I'm not confident in buying those and if I fail on my first attempt, I may not be able to continue confidently in the future. The second strategy is to buy class-A areas with good schools, but they cost around $450k or above, it's definitely out of my planned budget. 

Third question, it's remote, out-of-state rental, and my first attempt, I need some advice, what are the red-flags I should prepare for? Is Texas better than KS, it seems I saw a log of complains of the high property tax!!

Any advice would be highly appreciated. 

[John Hanfere]

Hey Zhaobin, I used to live in Overland Park Kansas and I can tell you it’s a pretty good area to invest for cash flow. Another area that’s really good is close by which is Shawnee Kansas and you can find properties under 300k in a great school district that attracts renters and home owners. If you’re looking to do and your first investment property in Kansas it a good place to start which is what I did. To my surprise since owning a property there since 2005. I never saw a lot of appreciation mostly cash flow until the past three years.

Best,

John H.