Charlotte and surrounding area questions from a new investor.

[Ryan McGlasson]

Hello everyone, I have a few questions about the Charlotte area I really would love input on because I do not live in Charlotte currently it is just the market I will be moving to invest in. With me not being in Charlotte currently, only having family friends live there, some questions may seem silly so I apologize for that.  

I have been researching Charlotte the last few months for single family homes and I have not really been able to determine myself these few things for single family home investments, If you are looking to purchase a house as an owner occupant and rent out rooms in the house to start out, is it a wiser choice to have this house be closer to downtown charlotte? As opposed to the suburbs surrounding charlotte? (mint hill, concord, harrisburg). 

Are separate rooms much harder to rent out the further away from downtown you are?  The reason I ask this is when I have looked into the Charlotte area many of the homes that are in the price range for me in a nice area, are much farther from downtown charlotte, or generally outside of the 485 highway ring around the city. They are usually right near harrisburg or outside of it by concord. Is it even wise to invest in these suburbs? Are they too far away from charlotte to be a hot rental? The cashflow on them seems exactly where I would need it to be , but am i ignoring the fact its quite a distance from a largely populated area? Or is that not what I should ALWAYS be focused on? Or am I not thinking about this correctly? 

Tons of questions sorry I am quite new and always wanting to learn more.

Any advice or help is really appreciated, thanks in advance!