Cris, I could not speak intelligently on those areas, as they are not where I focus.

In this case, you look for your first property to be the best possible investment, as you'll move on and a year from now it will get rented.If you still decide to go forward with a condo, try to get something close to the train, or in a great school district, and focus on the fact that the building has to allow rentals and not have a rental cap and also make sure that property can be rented for at least the amount all your monthly expenses for that condo will be!

You may also be able to take classes that focus on multi-family investing, house flipping and commercial real estate to help you gain base knowledge and give you the confidence to pull the trigger on starting your investing. 

Gives me good picture of more desirable neighborhoods.Any particular focus you have Renting?

My goal is to focus specifically for investors and invest myself.

If you focus on the sellers needs and come to agreement on terms, inspection, and price, get it under contract via snail-mail, email, docusign then have an escrow company or attorney assist with the rest.

You will get better idea where you want to focus on after reading Beginner's guide to real estate investing. 

If it does, that is a bonus, but I would focus on cash flow.

I would say get debt down, focus on getting cash in the door. 

Stacey Brown Randall is another educator focusing on how to get referrals without asking.