Los Angeles Investor FHA 203k loan

[James Allen]

Hi, 

So I'm finally ready to purchase my first home with my wife. We've started submitting offers and such and are trying to find a good deal in the Los Angeles area. 

So here's the situation:

My wife needs to be as close to pasadena as possible for her to feel comfortable cause her family lives there and she's a stay at home mom with 2 kids. Given that we have gotten pre approved for just over $400k, This limits our options to basically Duarte, Azusa, Covina, Baldwin Park, and Glendora for the most part. My thoughts are to get a cheap fixer upper house with 203k FHA loan so we don't throw away rent to an apartment, remodel the house, and build up some equity. Then I have room to save with the cheap mortgage payments for my first real true investment property that I won't live in. My only concern is that I wanna know if any of these neighborhoods should be of concern for an investor before pulling the trigger on one? Or if any seem like great places to invest in at the moment?

Thanks,

James