I am a buy and hold investor with 15 doors in Eastern, WA (Wenatchee) where things cash flow a little better. 

@Sheila Arca I'm not an expert as I am still on my first OOS deal, but I am looking at areas like Colonial Acres, Whitehaven, the Eastern parts of Raleigh personally.

A few eastern European sprinkled in with the odd German etc.

I'm an active investor in Pensacola (as well as Destin and Eastern Shore of Alabama) and would be glad to help you out in any way I can.  

Also there are a lot of areas (Baltimore city, southern Maryland and eastern shore) that got hit pretty hard during the recession and those foreclosures are still taking a long time.

I focus on the eastern suburbs mostly and I steer newbies toward them because of their plentiful supply of good tenants and job centers.

On the South Shore there is the Eastern Mass REIA in Rockland and Taunton (Though I think they haven't been having the Taunton meeting recently).  

Typically the far eastern side seems to be the best bet, close to i355 and Homer Glen.

The goal is eventually to make enough that I can comfortably travel and explore the world at will (just got back from a 4 week trip to Eastern Europe), without having to worry about what to do for work.In terms of disadvantages, it's easy to feel intimidated as a beginning investor who owns no property in one of the hottest and expensive real estate markets in the world and has very little savings.

My wife, Maria Spafford, is licensed in Eastern Idaho with KW.