Out of State - Tips to find A, B, C (headache free) locations

[Joey Wakefield]

Hello All,

First Post on BP!

I am looking to start my real estate investment journey via out of state investing. As I narrow down the market(s) I want to focus on, I keep wondering what process/tools do other out of state investors use to target higher quality areas in a given market? 

Questions that come to mind are: Will renters view this area of the city as a "good area" to live? is it safe? Is this an "A, B, C...class location?

Once I have locked in the market(s) I will focus on I will be happy to leverage Property Mangers and Realtors to get their opinions, but I was curious if there are any other resources, websites, data sets that anyone else has found useful to help with their individual analysis?

Any tips, tricks, lessons learned would be very much appreciated.

Thank you! 

Joey