First time investor (multi-family) ready to pull the trigger!

[Wes Martinez]

Hello! After years of sitting on the sidelines, I have made the decision to finally start my Real Estate career! My #1 goal in the short term is cash flow. Appreciation would be amazing and wouldn't say no to it, but I'd rather higher cash flow over appreciation (at least for my first deal or two). After reading a million posts it seems like the midwest and Tennessee are the best options for multi-unit rentals when it comes to cash flow!

A little about me: I have been in CPG sales/marketing for 16 years. I'm 100% debt free. Credit of 700-750. Have about 40k in savings/stock ready to invest.

I'm based in AZ/CA, so my first deal would be long distance... Enter BP investors' wealth of knowledge! Here are my questions:

1) What are the best (most approachable) cities/areas/state for a newbie like me? I realize I'd have to build a team for my first deal, so I'd like to take full advantage of that and eventually buy another 3-4 properties in that area/city/state before moving on to another market.

2) Would you recommend rural, suburb, or city for my first deal? Or first several? I feel like city would be easier to find PM, handymen, etc, but not sure if there is something I don't know about the rural/suburb markets...?

3) Is it better to buy two properties in the low-mid 100s or one property in the 300s? On paper two seems like better than one, but again, newbie here so hoping to avoid any landmines if I can help it!

Thank you all in advance, I'm so excited to have found this community!