I rent many apartments and never let my broker charge more than a month because I don’t want the commission to drive the discussions.

And if you didn't have someone you could trust to do the management in either place you probably still would have lost money.So, if I were you, I would pick several markets with good job and population growth and begin to research them and talk to the realtors and property managers in the area.One of them will likely reveal itself to you to be the right place for you.But definitely don't listen to a bunch of yahoos online :)

What the market is doing and what it will do drive a lot of their decisions.

Consider what you do for work, and how far you would be driving to get to those locations. if you are working in LA, driving from Palm Desert daily could allow you to cash flow, but your quality of life can be destroyed.

I'm based in NJ and not able to drive the area just yet.

You just may have to drive outside of your immediate area to get a deal. 

I don't know that area, but I have a friend who lives there and could drive there to visit and look for cash flow properties.

If your goal is cash flow it's always better to invest in areas where entry is low & rent is what drives demand. 

Rather than doing a Recast, if I invest the $50K into another SFH (at a price point that’s right for me) I’ll end up with $0-100 net monthly cashflow compared to my 3 other SFHs that are producing $2200/month net monthly cash flow (cumulatively).Based on the incredible growth going on in the Boise/Meridian Treasure Valley area (with an additional 400,000 new residents expected to move into the valley in the next 30 years) is it worth it to have a rental in my portfolio that is funding its expense but not netting anything to me?  

And other than that, just driving around and happening to come across rundown buildings.