Some thoughts:You will not find anything real close to the beach at the lower end of your range.The political environment is not STR friendly. 

So, people can look into the unit if the windows or blinds are open, also, you can hear cars parking(loud stereos), random homeless people walking by talking to themselves, the dumpster being rolled out and emptied M,W,F etc. basically all the little special joys of living in dense urban environment.

Paint is in most jurisdictions considered to have a max life of three years in a rental environment. 

For me, the components of the decision should be your local (NYC area) and state (NY) economy (look at hard data), the political environment (biz friendly or ?)

I'm not really sure from your post if you're sort of fishing for altruistic advice, or if the opportunistic capitalist Kalei is talking. 

And in today's environment, it is even harder.  

Initially i was Born in Russian but thanks to my mom I was able to grow up in a way better environment.

Also realize you are a small fish, one off investor.   

Just make sure any property you buy today can weather and produce good returns in a rising cap rate environment.

In my opinion, more and more restrictions on landlords makes for a hostile environment.