There's a reason why people refer to the founders of PayPal as the PayPal Mafia. 

There are a bunch of reasons people sell a property.

This is a self directed RRSP or TFSA account that allows you to lend your money out to people with the backing of their mortgage for a high interest rate. 1st, 2nd, 3rd mortgages, down payments, refinances, flipping or renovation money.

We net 10s of thousands of people from the Midwest states as well. 

These are just deals I have invested in with other people. 

Anything past that might feel weird.Good job going to your first one, that is a great step that too many people miss out on.

I think others have given you great advice.For most people I say go to some meetup groups for a year. 

I'm not sure if the program is still going on, but has definitely revitalized a lot of the area when it was once destined to follow the way of other older cities that are aging out of existence both in terms of people and property. 

Starting with something near your market that you know the area, can drive by the property and meet people in person will get you more comfortable with the risk of owning property. 

So infilling an income gap via people who can disappear just as easily as appear seems short sighted to me.