Read a bunch of stuff to see what attracts you the most.Consider your skills, your resources and how you can best leverage where you are starting from.There are many ways to start and some work better for certain people based on their personality.There is no best place other than starting from where you are.In REI you are the one who will make or break your success.

Develop your reputation as reputable and offering great services and you will meet and attract what you seek.Best wishes!

Not the nicest of neighborhoods, but they still command a hefty rental price.Then again, since this would be my first property, Pennsylvania is attractive as well, because although the cashflow will be lower, I'd likely be spending under $100k.

If you've got one, maybe two, folks involved in the estate, OF/LO can be an attractive option if all heirs are currently solvent and don't really NEED a lump sum of cash.  

So my goal is to find properties that A. cash flow from day one, B. achieve or come close to the 2% Rule Brandon uses on here, and C. are in neighborhoods where I can attract decent to good tenants.I see a lot of different angles of advice thrown to you here.

While landlords hate to drop rents, and resist it like the plague, make no mistake that during a downturn your income will fall even if you don't drop rents.Vacancies will increase, credit loss from non-paying tenants will increase, eviction costs will increase, you'll have to offer concessions like free rent or temporary discounts to attract tenants and keep the property full. 

You are still building up equity though each year with potential for appreciation and in future years it will begin to cashflow as more equity is built.Here's an example from one of my deals on the calcs I ran to measure monthly cashflow:Purchased for $306000 Rental Income $1600 - after 5% vacancy - Net rental income = $1520Monthly mortgage payment $1029.65Maintenance reserve $50Condo fees $303Property taxes $115.25Insurance $35========Net cash flow ($12.90)Properly estimating rent is harder to do as you may drop lower than you had planned to attract quality tenants so I use conservative rental numbers.

I would check for things that attract pests.Pests, plumbing leaks, are my biggest concerns.I had a tenant once who let water remain on the bathroom floor.

CMBS and Life Insurance debt may now be more attractive than Agency which is hard to believe.Seeing that the vast majority of apartment deals are financed via the two GSEs this will have downstream effects on the market, especially deals that are pending but haven't rate locked and for near future transactions.What are you seeing?

This ends up attracting longer term guests.