Starting out on my real estate journey

[Mike Petrocelli]

Hi all, I’m just starting out in real estate and have become borderline obsessed with absorbing as much knowledge as I possibly can. I live in Downtown Tampa, which seems to be a high potential market for rental properties at the moment. I have enough saved for a down payment on a single family rental property, and have been browsing the MLS sites for a few weeks. Here‘s the catch - I’m renting right now in Downtown Tampa, and it isn‘t cheap. I‘m still making decent cashflow from my job, but I’m considering buying a condo/townhouse for myself first to lower my monthly living expenses (I could move just outside the city for ~$600 less per month). My current apartment is AWESOME, but freeing up that extra cash might be a more logical/prudent first step. Looking for some thoughts/guidance from the community. Definitely appreciate feedback, and referrals on a good realtor - going to need one eIther way