Investing in the Charlotte Area

Hi there!

I'm an Illinois resident looking to do some out-of-state buy-and-hold investing, and the Charlotte metro area looks pretty interesting to me, particularly due to some favorable job growth numbers that I was looking at. My strategy (at this point) is to look at areas within an hour of downtown and see if I can find something that looks appealing. I'm looking at places < $250k. Any recommendations of where to look and/or people of interest (property managers, real estate agents, other investors, etc.) that I should consider? 

Thanks so much!

Michael