Also, I would recommend attending the BLack Diamond event in Waltham and I'm holding the first Unofficial BiggerPockets Boston Meetup in Woburn on Sept. 11th.

Given your location and goals you definitely should go to the Black Diamond meetings the next two month in Worcester.

Set up some keyword alerts and try and get to the Black Diamond events (@Ann Bellamy ).

As a matter of fact, I recently gave a presentation on exactly this topic at Black Diamond, and I'm repeating it in February at NHREIA for anyone interested.On multi-family properties, especially in New England, you must look at each property individually after you get past the rules of thumb, because of two major factors:1.

I really like two different groups.A) DFW REI Club which meets at Diamonds Oaks Country Club every Saturday.

Check out the stuff @Brandon Turner linked to and poke around BP forums and blogs for more good info.You should also come to some of the many local real estate investor events to meet people and learn more.If you can make it one of the best is Black Diamond tonight in Waltham.

But I still wonder if I should just jump into investing (as a rent-paying absentee landlord) with what I have available instead of searching for the diamond in the rough.

I can certainly tell you what works for Black Diamond.

You can always tell the older homes by the diamond pattern in the concrete blocks from 1910-1930.2.Gas forced air heat Gas is common here, but some houses have baseboard heat or a few have radiant.

Hope to meet you there.http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/517/topics/81045-january-black-diamond-free-networking-after-hours-in-waltham-ma?