New to Investing / Network Expansion / Flexible Market

[Jon Mitchell]

Hey everyone! 

I'm brand new to the investing world and have a pretty strong desire to get involved in rehab homes! I'm 26 years old from the Tampa Bay area in good ole' Florida and I'm looking to expand my network both locally and long distance. I'm flexible to pretty much any market throughout the nation that is desireable for flipping. In my personal opinion, I think it's beneficial to allow myself to be exposed to a much broader market in the begining to see what the options are, and then as time goes along, narrow myself down based on what I feel meets my goals. Some say start narrow and then go broad and vise versa. Thoughts on this? 

Since I am brand new, I'll definitely need a lot of coaching! I have a decent understanding about flipping homes, but, by no means do I know everything. Any advice on how to expand a team of professionals (realtors, attorneys, accountants, contractors, lenders etc.) to help me get started would be awesome! 

My long term goal is to be mostly hands off at some point and allow my money to work for me instead of having to work for my money. Eventually I'd like to have a strong team of individuals that would be capable of finding deals on my behalf and moving on from there. Of course much time will have to be invested (along with money) in the very begining in order for that to happen. With starting anything brand new, there's three phases: Crawl, walk, and run. Right now I'm in the crawl face trying to learn as much as I can before I take off! As I learn more and connect with you all, I'm sure this new challenge will turn into another day in the office. I just need a place to start and great support to keep me pushing along! 

My desired interest is in single-family homes with the long term goal of getting into mult-family homes in multiple markets. 

Thanks! 

[Jon Mitchell]

Quote from @Colton Johnson:

Hi Jon,

It's awesome to have you here on BP, and I'm excited to hear your real estate story. My biggest strategy is to connect with LinkedIn, BiggerPockets, and Facebook groups. I like to meet new people who are local to me, and get to hear their story. When we're getting ready to wrap up our meeting, I then ask them who'd they recommend I connect with. This really helped me to expand my network, and I wish you the best of luck in your investing journey.

Hey Colton,

Thanks for the advice!