You can also look into building a rental portfolio which is a little less hands off compared to flipping.

Are there any specific areas that are reasonably priced compared to the cities? 

Hello Matthew, Looks like if i get a discount of say 20-30 k, i will still will be under the water for accepting to update the records and bear the consequences which no one know how it goes.

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

It’s a little more work to set up, but if you get a solid property manager, it’s not as scary as it sounds.If I were you, I’d keep digging into the Capitol region, NJ, and CT—compare the numbers, and maybe even start building connections with agents or wholesalers in those areas.

Even comparing Provo to NC in terms of flight duration and cost even though both have direct flights would be a huge factor for me.

I'm using rent to retirement for 2 new builds with Beaty and so far the experience has been good, however curious to compare apples with apples.

I imagine cost of labor might be a little bit cheaper in Idaho compared to Connecticut as we ended up paying 10k for gas furnace and 5k for AC with 10 yr warranty for Lennox product.  

Need to watch out for utilities like water meter, electrical, gas, and sewer.

@Marc Robinson what's the lot rent, who pays what utilities and what's the source of the water and sewer?