How to narrow down an area to invest in?

[Adam Pearson]

Good evening,

Since getting into the professional world I have been saving each month not really knowing what my plan was. I now have 150k saved and have realized that I want to try to get into real estate investing to truly try and set myself up for the future and hopefully get to a point of being more financially independent.

My main question that I'm hoping for help with is how to narrow down an area to buy my first rental in? I live in california and am open to investing out of state however it just seems so daunting to figure out what state/city/neighborhood to buy in when I've never have even been to any of these places. 

My journey is just starting so I realize there is plenty for me to learn and research but I'm hoping for some help. Thanks everyone.