Loudoun/Fairfax counties - even worth trying?

[Elizabeth Campanella]

Greetings BP. I'm attempting to find a place for either flip or rent, but I live in Loudoun County Virginia. I haven't found anything in the last 3 months (am using MLS - I'm not interested in direct marketing) that will work. I have 50K+ in cash to use as a down payment, but I have to finance the rest. With closing costs and points plus rehab costs on the places I'm looking at, I can't even squeeze 10K out in profit. The most recent place is $157K with 20-25K rehab to flip or 27-35K to make it sturdy and nice enough for a &1600 a month rental. This place is a condo, so has a nearly $400 a month condo fee that includes all utilities. That would be fine if I could charge $2000 a month to include that, but the highest rent in the complex is 1600 INCLUDING utilities, which would mean that I have to get a mortgage that costs me no more than about $825 a month, and to do that I'd need to put down about 50%. I'd love to do a townhouse with no condo fees, but those are 50-100K higher in price, and I think I'd be in the same boat. How is it that I have 50K in CASH and I can't make this work?? I thought about looking in Winchester or West Virginia where the prices are lower, but the rents are also lower. What am I missing here?

Thank you for your time.

Elizabeth