Choosing a Farm Area

[Patrick Kane]

Im finally in a financial position to do my first deal(not counting my inadvertent successful house hack flip I currently live in), but im struggling to focus my efforts. One day I hope to have a solid feel for all of the Pittsburgh Metro area, but to start out i need to focus on 2-3 areas. What are criteria initial investors use to focus on? My first thoughts were to draw a 30 min driving radius around my house, and start there, but even then that is quite a large pool to draw from. 20 mins and i am in downtown Pittsburgh, or in rural burbs. Im inherently drawn to a higher density for buy and hold strategy, but this might be an ill informed preconceived notion. Appreciate any advice on narrowing the field of vision that worked for others. 

So far, I want to be under 225k, decently close to my current address, preferably multi-family C+/B- class properties.