I have no prior investment experience but after living in Paraguay, and reading some books about real estate investments, I think I'm ready to buy my first property.

One golden rule I follow,if it takes a long time to fix/replace when it breaks, don't buy a cheap one.Imagine, this thing breaks in the middle of your peak season and the people who can come out to rebuild are 2 weeks out....It takes at least a day or two to build something like this even if you are super skilled.

@Nick D.I'd start with identifying what your buy box is for your next property and what you are going to need for a purchase.

Hoping to go down one of two paths:1- Buy a condo or small single family home and build equity and create value with my maintenance/construction background.2- Find a cash provider to do this on a larger scale with a 3-5 unit building. 

I'm also considering Halethorpe because it's a good commuter location.Some people really like supporting the city in which case , northeast Baltimore would seem to the best place to buy a single family, in my opinion given the taxes situation and given that none of those areas are walkable I’d rather just be in the county and pay Lower taxes, and it’s not like northeast Baltimore is much that much cheaper than Baltimore county, hathorpe is mixed, arbutus is nice, I hate the housing stock there, would rather be in Catonsville if I was considering western Baltimore county. 

You won't be 6 months of hard work from buying, you'll be 6 YEARS. from buying a property. 

Investment Info:Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Duck Creek Village.

One I close on that house, I plan to go buy a good lot and get a decent builder to build the next one. 

Investment Info:Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Madison.

I generally recommend if you're not going to buy a property in the city/market where you currently live, the next best place to look is where you have family (and presumably a place that you'll visit relatively often and easily).What is your price point and are you looking for turn-key properties or something along the lines of a "fixer upper", assuming you buy in Peoria or a similar priced Midwest market?