Hello Everyone. I am a new investor currently residing in Houston looking to purchase my first rental property in the Birmingham AL area. I chose this area for several factors while researching places to invest and as you all know there are tons of places in this country to choose from. I know there are already several forums on investing in BHAM but wanted a recent one that was my own. So any local PM's, Agents, Investors, Contractors, (I need a team) that can assist me would be greatly appreciated. I have never been to BHAM but do plan on going there to get this started.

My current strategy is to buy, rehab, and rent out. I would like to use cash so it would have to be a sub 35k property which includes the purchase price and repair cost. ( buy for 20k and spend 15k on repairs.) I would also need to use a Property Management company to oversee.  Hopefully this is possible. I know this would probably be a rough neighborhood and from what I have been reading on these forums so far there is tons of mixed advice as to what is a decent neighborhood or not. I would like to invest smart but without risk there is no reward.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.