When you get some deals under your belt reconsider and choose what best fits your goals at that time. 

age doesn't technically matter but it can hinder you a bit. first, it's hard for most new investors to show they know what they are doing. reason is, most don't, until you have a bunch of deals under your belt and you actually do know what you're doing. so a 19 year old with no experience, you're going to have to really convince people you can closethe second is just years of knowledge.

And you can discount that Southern Californians generally have more money (and investable capital) than the rust belt.

Your final niche most likely won't be your only avenue - the more tools that you have in your belt, the better.

I am a new real estate investor with one year and 3 buy and hold deals under my belt.

Everything was going pretty great until the rug was pulled from under me during what I thought was going to be my first deal under my belt.

Cold belt states rural areas to weak suburban is really taking a hit.

It's definitely not a wealthy town, but there are tons of rentals that you can acquire for a lot less than inside the 128 belt.  

It usually is a low growth state or a warm belt state with weak suburban to rural area instead of strong suburban to urban core.So if an investor is accredited and has say 300k but wants assets with 3 million quality the answer might be to invest with a retail sponsor on larger high quality projects and locations.

The Northern Belt is booming for flippers who are looking get in at a lower price point than downtown for buy-fix-sell projects, but is not as hot for rents.