I plan to have my financing all squared away before even looking at properties to narrow down the results to affordable ones.

I understand Real Estate Investing is very broad so I'll do my best to narrow down what I'm looking to do. 

@Steve B and @George P.

Here's what I have though:ARV: $84,000Purchase: $48,000Construction: $10,000    Total: $58,000Acquisition W/ Conventional Mortgage:20% Down: $9,500Construction: $10,000    Total: $19,500    I've basically narrowed it down that for my family member to obtain the property they would either need to use a HEL/HELOC for the full amount (I believe they are a bit short on equity in that) or take out a HEL/HELOC to pay 20% down payment and construction costs, and finance the rest traditionally.

Question is, how much will it cost you to get from point A to point B, how much will it be worth at point B, and how much below point A can you pay to get "excess" market returns?..

I posed this question because I would just like to narrow my options down to a few cities to research and visit.  

Thanks for the suggestions Raymond B. and Rachel H.  

I am slowly narrowing down my areas!

I could narrow it down to a zip code but the 2 zips I'm interested in are 15 sq mi and 9 sq mi.  

I have been an investor for over 2 years now and in the last month I parted ways with partners and became a one man band for the moment so I am learning a lot of the components of the business that I did not need to focus on with partners.