I am not sure if your loan officer would get a better payday but a safe bet is that if they do not have investments themselves I would steer clear of their advice until talking to others with investment experience.  

Also, any advice which neighborhoods to be sure to steer clear of and which ones you like.

New investors are well-advised to steer clear of C/D properties - the turnover, evictions, and Section 8 red tape are a hassle even for more experienced investors and the returns are rarely as good in real life as they look on paper, especially if you have to pay for a PM to manage an out of state investment.

Are there areas you guys would steer clear from?

Or, do you have any companies you would suggest steering clear of?

Any help would be appreciated Or if anyone can steer me in the direction of a book or better articles that might spell out the details better for me.

@Brandon Ellis & @Chris Eidson (good info Chris)We've always steered clear of properties in floodplains, and will continue to do so. 

It's awesome to meet another investor from the Buffalo area, by the way.My wife and I were thinking the same thing with respect to just simply positive cash flow/all house expenses being covered while we're house hacking, which should make the property that much more profitable once we move & rent out the unit we were living in.While we have a lot of family originally from the Buffalo area, we're relatively new to the area (approx 1 year now) and quickly finding out the areas that we should stay away from - we're certainly steering clear of the inner city areas. 

You can PM me and I can steer you in the right direction.

I want to make sure we steer clear of any discrimination issue but would like to select the best tenant.