Don Ganguly, the chief executive of HomeUnion, which started in 2014, said that most HomeUnion investors live in expensive coastal markets, like San Francisco and New York, where salaries are high but so are housing costs. Their dollars go further in smaller markets, like Indianapolis, Dallas and Orlando.

The need to look farther afield for what is affordable is common for New Yorkers just searching for a place to live. Can’t afford to live in Brooklyn Heights? Give Bedford-Stuyvesant a try. If all of Brooklyn is out of your budget, welcome to New Jersey.

It turns out that aspiring investors face a similar conundrum. The mom-and-pop landlord who may have bought a rental property around the corner a decade ago now also needs to look farther, and since there is no need to actually live in the home, that net can be cast far and wide.

“In many ways, it’s an extension of the search for affordability in New York,” said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants. “This becomes another leap.”

But there is a difference between moving with your family to the suburbs and buying a house that is a plane ride away and occupied by a stranger. Buying a property that you may never see changes your relationship with it. Mr. Ganguly, who was initially surprised by how few HomeUnion investors flew out to see the houses they were about to buy, compared the process to buying stocks. “They flipped the switch in their head to say, ‘It’s an asset,’” he said.

Like stocks, a house may appreciate in value over the years, while rental income offers a steady return in the short term. On HomeUnion’s website, listings include detailed projections for returns. The company estimates that, on average, investors who put down 20 percent on a property and hold it for 15 years can expect annual returns of 11 to 19 percent, a figure that includes rental income, appreciation and increased equity.