As far as you saying you don't know if it's in an HOA, it likely is, given how you described it and that shouldn't be hard for you to figure out just by looking at a Google Earth map (sometimes the name of the community will appear), or pay a local person off Craigslist to go drive it and find out the community name, take pictures of the lot, etc. 

I live in Garden City, Missouri, which is about 45 minutes drive from the property in Kansas City.The property is currently vacant.I own the home, have no loans or mortgages.

This drives us to have a little higher barrier to scaling my investing business, however I am trying to go far, not fast. 

Tech giants like Intel, Meta, Amazon, and Google have invested heavily in the area, driving up property values and creating opportunities for real estate investors.

I was out of state on a trip and so my sweet wife was the one handling most of the talking with the Wholesaler.When I still like to browse Roofstock I examine each home property report and statistically, 7 out of 10 homes are having problem with foundation/electric/plumbing.Property inspection helped a lot especially when the inspector is good.Thanks,

Also, for the same reason there are 20 different restaurants that fry chicken differently, or places to get ice cream, or cars to drive, or churches to attend. 

Locals have to drive the neighborhood in order to stay current on the changes and truly it seems that you have to own something profitable before you will go against the norm and buy more.

Driving is scary. 40,000 people a year die from it.Flying is scary.

Location is a big thing I am trying to focus on and am even driving past the houses at night after work to check out the area and make sure it would be somewhere where I would like to live.

Not to say that you can't jump to long distance investing right away but if you don't have any experience I would try to at least invest in one property within a 1-2 hour drive from where you live.