Given your residency limits, the high prices in NYC and surrounding areas are a challenge, but there are still options in neighborhoods further out within your allowed range, like parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

@Joy McQuearyRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Adjusting for it allowed him to realize his property’s ROI was still positive but not as high as initially hoped.

For instance, someone making $500k a year and living in a very highly appreciating market might be extremely happy on a deal that loses $200 a month but is getting 5% appreciation on a 2 million dollar property in San Diego, butut that doesn't make sense for the investor with 30k and a lower paying job.When it comes to the book series I agree with you that the order doesn't make sense (having read both).

Purchasing a new primary and turning my current house into a rental and looking to hire a PM but some of the fee's seem high. 1 quote - 100% 1st/month rent if i self-manager, or 75% 1st/mo rent and 10%/mo for PM to manage.Again, im new to this but from reading and talking to people there is a typical finders fee ~1000$ and 10%/mo rent if the PM manages. 

Mortgage lending is highly competitive, and there are many newbie loan officers that will bend over backwards to get you to pull a credit report and pay for an appraisal.

We respond to inquiries, but if someone did the things you suggested to try to track me down instead of following the advertised protocol I would disqualify you as crazy or a potential stalker or just high needs or high maintenance. 

Exercise caution and explore alternatives before considering them

Part of it is due to a personal family issue, but part of it is due to the high prices and rates.

My sister recently moved to HI, and I figured that might be an interesting market because of high rents and HCOL - although also high property values.