Small Town/Old Home investing

[Tris Rollins]

First off, I am new and am looking for a mentor in real estate investing. So, if anyone is in the Green Bay/Shawano/Appleton area I would love to link up. Second, I moved to WI a year ago and it seems like most of the smoking deals are homes built in 1940 and older OR the smoking deals are in small towns well outside the larger cities. I am looking for buy and hold rental properties (SFR or Multi). I admittedly now live in a home from 1926 but it was heavily upgraded ($90k) and is in a small town. I see how slow the real estate market is, so I am very reluctant to put my hard earned savings (or time for that matter) into just anything. So my question is, has anyone been successful in small towns (<8k) with low socioeconomic status'? Tips/Advice please. I am willing to go to somewhere close like Green Bay, but would obviously like to stay local if possible for convenience. Sorry if this is rookie stuff, but I believe in these types of communities, hence I signed up (went PRO, though I am far from that status) and am looking for my first deal.