I sometimes cringe when I see investors from SF and LA chase rust belt "cash flow" junk.

Until you have a few deals under your belt, I'd stick with either HML or private money lenders who could/do qualify as accredited investors.  

Now that I've got a little knowledge under my belt, I'm almost ready to take that first step and start looking at properties. 

@Iman Yu, I would say that a 2-4 unit property may be easier to manage while you get more experience under your belt.

I also have rehab/remodeling in my tool belt which also strengthens what I bring to the table.

With two full years of Real Estate activity under my belt I plan to be well on my way to building my net worth. 

thank you everyone I think I almost made  a big mistake I was looking at it on a long term buy and hold. and I ran the numbers it wasn't really working ( they said 300 cash flow a month  but it was 1300 rent and 100 for mortgage didn't factor in anything else but I really wanted to get my first deal under my belt not to mention a property for next to nothing that comes with a tenant I really feel that buy and hold is best for me and I though I could do that with this deal but it don't sound like this method is good for that also I cant flip cause she is owe 80k and the comps are around 60k.

The other areas were these are located and they are still there are in dead and dying rust belt cities or cities with more houses than people.. and or high poverty rate or demographic of heavily dependent on government assistance.. many times in the urban core areas of the bigger US cities.One of the folks I like in Indy made a comment on another post..

Hi,   I'm a relatively new investor in Nashville, Tn, however our company is growing quickly as we continue to add deals under our belt.

The newer water heater is a power vent unit ($1300) that requires PVC vents to the roof/wall and a 115VAC outlet for the blower.