Buyers are loving the softness of Champagne Bronze, and we are using that color for lights, plumbing fixtures, and cabinetry hardware.We find that these elements work no matter where you're located in the US, and no matter the ARV! 

-------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend 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?

What is drawing you to that specific location?

I think both of your strategies have merit, but here’s my take based on what you’ve laid out.Moving to a rent-stabilized apartment and renting out your condo as a mid-term rental could be a smart pivot, especially with its location near a hospital and LGA.

I encourage you to interview property managers to determine what their approach looks like when managing properties for an investor who does not reside in the market where the property is located. 

While there are some markets I feel are so saturated it is near impossible to be successful in todays market (Orlando), in most competitive markets you can be successful if a) have reasonable expectations and b) do everything right (price, location, pro design, pro photos, etc etc). 

I recently came across 1 acre asking for 314k in a very good residential and growing location, so the current owner has added 4 manufactured homes with 4 electrical meters, 4 septic tanks and only 1 water meter for all 4 homes, the homes are sitting on partial slab and partial pier & beam, he also added 2 storage sheds approx. 380sqft with the intention to make them ADUs they are still only the shell so I would have to get those ready to live in, so currently the 4 manufactured homes are being rented and bringing in 2800k a month, 3 of the homes are needing some TLC which could increment rents and possibly get me at 3600k a month, also being a 1ac lot this still leaves about 12,000sqft of raw land where you could build etc.So that is on the good side now the things I did not like so much, the lay out is poorly executed to where it makes it looked crammed up and not professional but it could be fixed.Another is that in reality there is only 4 livable units so that qualifies under a conventional loan but since they're are 6 units on the property the banks are wanting to take it as a commercial so we would have to move out the 2 storage sheds out in order to close as conventional.Another concern, technically you are only allowed to have one manufactured house or single wide in your property according to what I know but I know it could change according to zoning which I will investigate, so my question is has all this been accounted for and if so how can I verify it so it wont leave me in a bind further down the road, I currently asked my agent for the appraisal of the property to see if that might verify.Any recommendations?

I agree with your approach in aiming for better locations, seems that texas (dallas /FT worth) fits the bill.

As others said out of state can be more challenging based on location but local or out of state both can be done. 

It is located on a very scenic setting.