Balancing your investment strategy between cash flow and appreciation, and possibly expanding your search to nearby markets, can help you make a more informed decision.Good luck with your investment journey!

Ultimately, the best market for investing under $250k will depend on factors like your risk tolerance, investment goals, and personal preferences.

My real estate journey started two years ago when my parents passed and left me what was to be their unrealized retirement property.

If you have the chance to read my long winded post and have insight on alternative ways start my REI journey please respond or feel free to DM me.

If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing.

You have to get the person face to face.Creative deals are negotiated. 

Quote from @Russell Brazil: In the future, do a court records search at https://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/casesearch/If you had done that, you would have seen they have 8 failure to pay rent cases against them.I am curious Who did the initial check on this person?

Is there a specific name for this person or could it be anyone in the bank? 

If you get a bad tenant, the rest of your tenants have to live with this person until you can successfully evict them.

We want to begin our real estate investing journey soon and aren't sure where to start.