Welcome Brandon - I have properties here in the wyoming valley.I am a native to the area.Scranton has many hoops to jump as an investor - esp. an out of the area investor.One is you'd have to hire a property manager if you do not live in the city of Scranton or within 20 miles of the city.Real estate taxes are high -that plus the current interest rate and ask prices makes cash flow an issue.You can find "deals" but please do your due diligence.Here is an example of a potential deal I am evaluating in the hill section of the city: 20 y/o, 2000 sq ft. 3b/3bath TH - Needs paint, new carpeting, and general wear and tear repairs after a 4 year tenant.

Purchase price: $230,000 Cash invested: $170,000 Two homes on half an acre.

I'm now working on my second "dive into full-time REI" hahaThe first time I thought that I would be able to generate cashflow out of thin air and that I could half-*** my side gig of being an RE agent for investors. 

This is about 50 units - half traditional hotel rooms and half more studio/1 bedroom weekly or monthly rental.

As a lender, we do not lend on flips in the North half of NJ.

If you're interested in low-income housing, Kitsap County gets to charge rates similar to the Seattle market while costing half as much.If you're interested in more than cosmetic value add, you can do some construction/development to take advantage of EHB 1337.

The land is about half the cost of the Heights.

If you look at tenant preferences over half prefer apartments with about 30% wanting an SFR. 

About half it was calls I bought. 

Personally, we spent about a year and a half listening to podcasts, reading a bunch of REI books, and talking to experienced investors before we felt the time is right.