'cash flow' on cheap properties in the midwest has been way overstated. 

Quote from @Devin James: Gross Margin is an important calculation for developers/builders.Gross Margin = Gross Profit / RevenueWe shoot for a 20% gross margin on our New Construction HomesReal #’s:Home Sales Price: $374KClosing Cost: $18,700Cost of Construction: $258KLand Cost: $30KGross Profit = $67K$67K/$374K = 17.9% Gross MarginCame slightly short of our goal of 20%Homes Values and Build Costs are constantly fluctuatingI wish we had a crystal ball build larger homes. average new build in our market is 2200 square feet, 4 beds, 3 baths, 2 car garage and sells for 515k. construction costs lower if design is good and find the median or average home sale price and push that up. my guess is you built too small. 347k is cheap. we target 429-479k price range in columbus ohio for single family homes and also only purchase close to urban core where premiums are 20% higher and we build smaller like 1500 sq ft where price per square foot goes up. 

I guess be happy it’s only a couple months and a cheap lesson learned?

and where you could start with a house hack... which is the best and most powerful way to get started.now, should you buy a random, 'cheap' (supposedly) property in some random market you may never live in or have any connection to, before you're settled, just to own an investment property? 

In PA you can build an entire 2000sqft home for that budget, and PA is not cheap. 

Unless you have a way of sourcing deals or access to a crew (cheap labor), it's going to be very, very difficult.As for a market, I lived in Houston for a dozen years and still own property there.

The cheap DIY (“rent a plan”) 401k’s need to be moved to a new custodian.

I included a link below to your state's association with all the requirement info.Keep in mind that getting into Real Estate is not a cheap adventure. 

Again I'll do more research on how much this could cost but I imagine it wont be cheap.

high interest rates have hurt cash flow and long term rentals are still a great investment... they're just not going to throw off rental income in the first few years of ownership.