I have been searching for 9 months now with very limited success for deal flow, perhaps my market size is too small (I am looking about an hour radius from my business and home base), but I am managing my rehabs and managing my portfolio myself along with my employees, so going out of state for me would be more difficult. 

MA is a tough state for evictions and you may need money for legal fees.  

As much as the CT market is tough, the NY market can be even tougher! 

I own a couple and the cash flow is tough to beat.

It has been a great learning experience so far but has been tough since we both have wives and small children and are working on the house on nights and weekends. 

The value of a good tenant is sometimes worth putting up with certain, lets call them "quirks", but those conditions are pretty tough.

This is going to be a tough question to answer accurately with no info. 

I'm W2 salary employee around $80k/yr.

As an employee, we get a fairly substantial discount on materials.

HOA's can be tough as they limit your use of the property.