@Annie Zhao,
1. There are numerous posts on BP about landlord friendly states. Search for those or type the question into Google. That's the quickest. You can also ask other BP members who are in those states. Also, property managers and other investors can be a good reference.
2. What are pros and cons, well, that's always going to be an "it depends" question. Every investor will have their own thoughts and experiences, and I only named a few for example purposes. Using the example, I stay away from basements because they can leak, get moldy then the damage can be very expensive to fix. It's not easy to see into a basement, especially if it isn't in use often. I stay away from areas that snow because I don't like the cold. It's just a preference for me. I'd rather visit a house that will have a low of 32 versus one that may be 0. When snow melts and you have a basement then eventually water from the snow gets into the basement. Look for stories here where landlords have gone into a vacant home with a basement where a pipe broke due to the cold weather or that water got into the basement and the landlord has an ice rink inside. It's all bad. It's not something that happens often, but again it's just my preference.
Pros of cold weather, for me, none. But everyone needs a home so if you have a good home in an area that snows or has a basement it can be rented. Ohio has many of these for example. Another pro, you can make snow angels or snowmen, doesn't help my bottom line though.
On another note, weather plays a big role with rental areas. I'm dealing with Soldiers and families now in California where we just had the fires. Hundreds, if not thousands, of rental homes were destroyed. Do the owners have enough/quality insurance to cover the loss and the loss of rent. The mortgage will still be due even after the home burns down. Look at Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Homes were lost there too. Those are the large scale events. Having a basement flood or a tenant letting water damage turn into a mold issue is on the small side. There is a lot in the middle so at least consider the weather and possible damage when you choose an area to invest in. For example, most people don't think about whether flood insurance is required and add that to their numbers when looking at their returns.
3. Other things to consider, everything. The list would be hundreds of pages. To start out I recommend you choose 3-4 areas and narrow it down to one, you can always change your mind if something doesn't work in the area you selected or if you want to add another area later. Then research it on BP and all of the sites such as Trulia. Trulia has the homes for sale in the area to get prices and rents to compare, heat maps that show how well the schools perform, crime levels, local shopping/commute time, etc. citydata.com has info population, jobs, market, etc. Census sites have data on people who live in an area. Those are a few good places to start for an area.
Once you have an area, create/update your criteria list to determine what it is you want in a home, ie, 3-4 bedrooms, 2 bath, in a neighborhood with a school rating of ??, built after 1995 with a 2 car garage. Then add a like, dislike and no column and add the items under the headings. As you learn what you are doing you can add to or adjust your list. I recently added wood paneling as a dislike to my list because the city I invest in has it in the older homes. I can deal with it if the deal makes sense but I don't like it.
From there start looking at homes on Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, etc to find examples of homes that you like. Then reach out to an agent, turnkey company, etc that matches what type of investing you want to do. They should be able to help you and with all of the data you provide they will know you are more serious and you will waste less of your time and theirs while tying to get started in that market.
This is a brief, but long, list of how I would start based off my experience over 18 years and 25+ homes. It's not as easy as what I typed and there is much more to it.
There are several books for sale also that will walk you through the process. @Joshua Dorkin and @Brandon Turner wrote the book on "How to Invest in Real Estate". It's a great beginner's guide and it's only $15 here on the site.
Final note, ensure you get a great property manager. This is always my number one tip. You will buy the house once, get an inspection once, get a loan once but you will deal with the property manager at least once a month. That company will be a big part of what makes or breaks your investment.
Message me if you have other questions. Good luck,
