New Investors Interested in Tampa FL Market

[Savannah Walbert]

Hello! My fiancée and I recently made our first post here and after gaining some great advice we have refined our goals and our now looking for more specific guidance.
We are aspiring investors looking to start our real estate journey in 2024. We live in Los Angeles, both are self employed 1099 independent contractors, combined annual income roughly 250k pre-tax. About 100k cash saved in the bank.

We have a job opportunity that would put us in Tampa, FL about 4 months out of the year total (non-consecutively), and we are curious as to whether the Tampa market or nearby markets could be a good fit for us.

We initially have been looking at out of state options (MI, OH, NC, etc) since our local market in Los Angeles is so ridiculously expensive. However, with this opportunity to actually be in Tampa in person we are hoping we can find a market near there that we can make work for us, since being able to visit the home in person will give us an advantage over trying to set up a team and systems without ever really spending time in the market we are investing in.

For us, long term equity growth and appreciation are top priorities, since we don’t really need a few hundred a month in cash flow with our current income. Eventually yes of course we want to use our real estate investments to retire as young as possible, but what I’m saying is we don’t need immediate huge cashflows in the first few years, and we will happily sacrifice short term cash flow for long term appreciation.

All that said, is Tampa FL or any surrounding area a good market for our budget and goals? Hoping to put no more than 60k cash into the first deal (ideally less), and looking for the strongest appreciating market possible.

Thanks in advance!