Give them an inch and they will take a mile!

But, you can go out much farther, like up to 4 miles, I think.

I live in the general area, about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh.

The property is on the border of an up and coming area with an elementary school and middle school less than a mile away.

I've had my agent pull comps within a mile radius of the address and prices rage from 262K per acre to 128 million per acre. 

As someone that was in almost exactly this same position a few years ago, I will let you know that I chose to buy a small multifamily in close proximity to downtown (2-3 miles away) that needed a little bit of work.

I'm also a new investor interested in multi unit buy and hold properties, but I'm about 30 miles south of STL.

We are moving much closer to my work and my wife is going back to school in Salt Lake (35 miles north), so we are getting another place this week under an FHA loan for a 4plex.   

I invest 3000 miles away.

Our meetings are in Peabody and Danvers, MA a few miles North of Boston