Welcome to BP Brandon and good luck investing!

Im an investor in southern il metro east area,looking to invest in st johns county possibly flagler county mainley rehab and flip we will be in the area in march do you have any recommedations on what areas is a good flip area

I love a good creative financing transaction when done safely and ethically.

That is a good point.

We've essentially ruled out investing in our local community because we can't seem to find a good deal (we live about 1.5 hours north of NYC, so purchase prices are very high), so we are considering (1) investing out of state; or (2) investing in some northern NY localities (Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, etc.). 

It also depends if your tenants have good credit they care about.

@Kris TohovitisI wouldn't recommend using your cash to pay off the mortgage on your primary residence since you can likely get a better return on that money by investing it.What's your buying criteria for the multi-family property?

I think too many people move on to property number two and three before property number one is really in good shape and later they regret it.

Cozy was "good enough" for awhile but the lack of a mobile app and multiple tenants having issues setting up payments, etc caused me to look elsewhere.  

Good property managers are in high demand.