In Flyover country we are less - -- surprisingly in Wichita in my opinion medical labor costs less than Topeka, Lawrence or Kansas City. 

One great benefit I do have is that I spent many a weekend in my childhood traveling with my grandpa to his plethora of real estate investments (rentals, flips, and properties he had lent on) throughout Brooklyn, NY.

And welcome to Pittsburgh in advance, safe travels. 

Real estate is a relationship business and word travels fast about bad folks as it does in any business.

I currently have one buy and hold SFH which Ive been sitting on for a few years now.Secondly, I am myself a transient worker traveling all over the East Coast working on projects for 1 - 2 months at a time.

@Matt Engle yeah I plan on listening to RE podcasts while traveling to and from work.

How to pick a market:-Pick a larger MSA-make sure jobs are diversified. ex tech, medical, gov't, finance-more people move in to the market than leaving-room for growth in rent-landlord & business friendly-boots on the ground if possibleOnce you narrow these things down learn where the path of progress is and good school zones.

Granted plently of better or maybe eaiser is the right word to travel to and be a landlord.You can fly to KC from socal for dirt cheap and it's a little over 3hr flight...prices are lot more affordable then Vegas/phx.

The medical community discusses the behavior of "crazy" people all the time.

They discussion my ethnicity, nationality, African mixed Thai, she Jewish, why I Didn’t want move, why I traveled with so much stuff, people probably give me all that stuff and I just won’t get rid of it, was I a paint, maybe I am a designer and so on.......Taking photos of my personal property and a real state agent allowed her client to do so he can show people the stuff a had is a violation to my privacy.