My local market is not my preference. How do I go about looking for other markets?

[Andrew Shell]

This is my first post on this website so if you have any advice about the way I organized my post, please let me know!

I am a novice investor who recently (last week) closed my first deal through a short sale in Flagstaff, AZ. Flagstaff, though, is not my backyard, I currently live in Orange County California. The problem is that I feel the real estate market in Orange County is very competitive and the prices are still very high for real property. I'm turning 22 in April and I've spent the past 2 years studying real estate investing, as it turns out I love it and can't stop thinking about it. Anyways, I've read that a beginners backyard is a good place to start investing... although I sort of feel that my backyard may not give me the best chance for success.

Do you disagree with my thinking and feel that I should resort to creative finance or some other means to investing in my backyard that I know pretty well? Or should I look to other states and counties which I am not that familiar? (The property I bought in Flagstaff is right next to where I went to college for 2 years and I know the market like the back of my hand so it is sort of exempt.) If that is the case, how do you seasoned investors go about picking potential markets to invest?