Best type of investing in my situation.

[Charles E Nielsen]

Hello all, I am brand new to real estate and am very excited to get started. I have a question, however. I am located in the boonies in southern Idaho, and am wondering what class of real estate you would try getting into if you were in my situation. I live in a town of about 2,000, and the outlying areas are sparsely populated. There is no town larger within 30 minutes of here. The real estate market here is good for a town this size, but it still doesn’t seem to leave me a ton of options. There are several midsized cities (100,000+) about an hour away in three different directions, and I can move into one (or more) of those markets if I have to. I would rather, however, stay a bit closer.

If you were me, how would you start? Do you have any options, other than leaving town?