At what point should you pursue investing Out of State?

[Blake Ramsey]

Hey everyone, I'm Blake and I'm an aerospace engineering student based in Springfield, Mo looking to get into real estate investing. I have been looking at SFR and duplexes around town looking for deals, but I'm somewhat interested in broadening my search. At what point is it plausible to start looking at out-of-state properties rather than local deals? Is it a last resort kind of thing if you just can't find deals locally? Is there a considerable amount of risk involved? Personal preference (if so, what drew you to that place?)? I'm curious because I've talked with a few different people who had a couple of different reasons and now I'm trying to see what the general trend is for people who decided to invest out of state.