Where to invest

[Stephen Anderson]

After two years of travel my wife and I are ready to put down roots in a new location. At risk of being cliche we decided Florida was where we wanted to be. We don't own any real estate now but are living comfortably in our RV and can do so for another year if need be.

We also are interested in real estate investing and are actively looking for homes to renovate for the purpose of flipping or keep as rentals. I have 150k to get started but am faced with some options. 1) Use the 150k to buy a primary residence for ourselves then use that equity to finance future real estate investments or 2) buy houses to flip in an effort to increase my capital. 3) Buy a multifamily unit to rent out and use that equity/income to finance future deals.

I am also looking at the projected population growth for the state of Florida and was wondering if we should focus our efforts in another county. The county I have been looking is expected to grow 13% to 180,000 by 2025. That would be about 20,500 new residents.

The county just to my south is projected to grow by 35%. That would be 220,000 new residents.

Would I be better off moving my efforts to the more populated county with the higher projected growth?

I feel like a cat I saw that went after a flock of birds in our yard. When they all took off there were so many the cat didn't know which one to go after and ultimately ended up with none...

Thanks for any input..