Looking to invest out of state. Will be my first investment!

[Jonathan Trochez]

Hello everyone! I live in LA and have been saving aggressively to try and buy a house for myself. I have recently decided to start looking into investing in rentals out of state instead. I have 100k in cash and as of now thinking of trying to buy a single family rental in cash (if possible). Looking for some advice/tips on which markets I should be researching. And if it's a good idea to buy my first investment property in cash? Or should I consider financing something that would be more turnkey? 
Thanks in advance for all the help and words of encouragement. Finding this community has really got me excited and motivated! 

[Erik Raz]

You can still buy a house for $100k just limited to some areas. Investing out of state is very tricky. I deal with people like this all the time. Here is what I personally would do. 

If starting out as a new investor, with no or low prior experience. I would try to stay as close as possible to my home. It depends what's comfortable, some people that's 2hr drive away some 3hr etc... When starting out you want to make sure your chance of success is the highest. The first few properties make it or break it for many investors. 

So in short unless I would be willing to fly out of state every month or so, I would stay closer to my area where if something goes wrong I can drive there and take care of it. Even if it's once in 3 weeks or so.