New to REI. Looking for advice to get started in Sarasota area

[Ryan Asterita]

Hey guys, I moved from NY to FL 3 years ago and I'm ready to get started with real estate investing. Looking to make contacts and get advice on where to start. I'm currently in the Bradenton / Sarasota area of FL and would like to stay relatively local for my first investment. I am most interested in single family long term rentals and short term vacation rentals. Any advice about the area would be greatly appreciated

[Jed Haslam-Walker]

Hi @Ryan Asterita,

Well congratulations on your decision, you have chosen wisely for your area, not only is the Bradenton /Sarasota area an excellent choice to develop your portfolio but you are also in the largest group of buyers down here, coming as you do from the NY area.

'Advice about the area' is an understandable question but a huge topic and you could be inundated with a great deal of information that is interesting but not profitable for you. One of the challenges when an investor gets going is actually to start investing, you can't make money from expanding your knowledge base unless you are actually leveraging your investments - and you can't do that if you don't own any. So making your first purchase can often be the hardest step - in my experience once you have taken the plunge, your momentum starts to build on the foundation of that confidence and you will find your stride.

The important part about buying your first purchase is to have a very solid foundation to build on. When I work with first-time investors I have them go through a series of steps with me before we even look at any properties. These steps create the foundation for them and when they have finished them - at that point - choosing their property is almost instantaneous and, if I've done my job properly in helping them, they are not scared or nervous any more they are hungry; they have taken the time to firstly understand what their own questions are and research the answers within an accountable time-frame ( so they don't disappear in the vortex of investor-paralysis) - bounce them off a knowledgeable professional in the field and answer questions that I ask that they hadn't thought to plan for and we build a template of their own portfolio to accurately and quickly measure properties and financing products against that is tailored to their own risk tolerance and life situations. 

You have already started that journey by selecting your area and clarifying one of the reasons why you want to work in that area. You will become an expert in your area very soon because you will be analysing properties regularly and adding to your database of analytics - once you have a solid blueprint for what makes a property fit your criteria you will be able to act swiftly and confidently to secure it. In this market particularly, this is essential to being an investor who actually manages to grow their portfolio rather than one who is often disappointed and misses out on the deals.

I can't emphasise enough how important it is to do this groundwork. I have had investors come to me many times, stressed and overwhelmed because they do not really know why they are making their investment decisions or where they are in their 10 year plan or their financing structure model and they have a portfolio that is struggling for any number of preventable reasons - so planning based on accurate information is highly advisable.

A really good team helps too. Being a profitable investor is a role you can perform largely alone but it will take you a lot longer and you probably won't be nearly as profitable as you would have been with a good team and it won't be nearly as much fun or as robust a structure as you won't have the under-pinning of relationships to catch you if you falter at some point and need support in one form or another.

So - I would suggest you start working on your foundation stone. Get specific. Set goals and hold yourself accountable to them - ideally partner with someone in the field, a Realtor, a lender, a co-investor friend and get them to hold you accountable to your goals. Write it down. Get specific about numbers: cash-flow, purchase price, desired profit, down-payments etc. doing this will give rise to the specific questions you need answers to - then when you post a question in the forum, the answer you get back will progress you further towards actually making money.

Hope this helps.