I bought these properties very cheap at County Property tax sales.

Then do the math and build in a cheap interest rate over your desired time.

Stuff in Roxbury and mattapan isn't cheap either.

Should I start with a cheap duplex out of state that I don't live in?

It was listed at $219,000 for a while which is pretty cheap for this area especially considering a 2 family. 

It means they are not operating the property correctly, not reporting their expenses properly, they are owner operators and do everything themselves on the cheap, or a combination of these.Put together a pro forma based on how you will run the property so that you can get more comfortable with your numbers.  

Very well put Jay Hinrichs .I feel that so many new investors are lured into seminars and online training courses and told that wholesaling is easy, cheap, and "the best way to enter real estate investing".

My investments, I want to have degree of leverage because borrowing is so cheap right now.

We can do infrastructure very cheap considering the property is all sand so we could run approximately 400-500 ft of pipe a day which will keep costs cheap.

Looks great went down cheap, Although I can't comment on the lasting quality as the tenant moves in next week.