location searching - downtown vs suburb vs rural

[Shaun Sullivan]

I've been browsing the MLS listings all around the areas of Frederick & Hagerstown, including places west like Boonsboro, Brunswick, Harper's Ferry, etc... and I started to wonder whether I should just ignore places that aren't fairly close to the population centers. For buy & hold, it seems finding renters would be easier closer to the cities, and for flipping I would expect generally quicker sales closer to the cities, just because there's constantly a supply of people looking to rent & buy in the denser areas. Although there'd be less competition (other homes for sale or rent) in the less dense areas, it'd just be how lucky one could get that someone is looking to buy or rent there at the right time.

Is this a good way of approaching it for a newbie? There are certainly areas I'd want to avoid even within and near the cities, but should I restrict my search to the population centers? I've seen a few rural properties that look like they could be acquired for less than 70% ARV, but is the risk too high that holding costs would get out of hand before I could find a buyer willing to pay what it's worth? or if trying to rent, the risk of it sitting empty for months?

Maybe this should be obvious to me or is well-known in this area or in REI in general, but any input would be appreciated.