New Investor - looking for advice

[Arina Alexiuc]

First of all, allow me to say that BP is amazing! I am really surprised how many people are willing to share their wisdom and knowledge! Thank you all for that!

My husband and I are new investors. We have been thinking about this for a long time, but finally decided to pull the trigger. My BIG dream is to build a portfolio big enough so that we can replace our current income and retire comfortably (dream big they say, right ;)?) I am hoping for cash flow, equity, appreciation and tax benefits. Is it really possible with current prices and mortgage rates?

I have been doing research on BP and other places for a couple of months now and decided that buy and hold long-term rental BRRRR strategy will be best for us. I am open to other ideas, except house-hacking, which we would rather not do. Is BRRRR a good decision?

We live in South Florida, which is not the best area to implement this strategy, therefore I am considering out-of-state investing. I am torn between 3 locations: Jacksonville, FL (it's still FL and a drive/quick flight away), Baltimore, MD (we used to live in MD and it's familiar), Midwest: Columbus, Detroit, ??? (I have no clue, have never been there, but everyone is raving about it nowadays :)). Did I miss any other great areas to invest in?

Any advice will be highly appreciated :) Also would love to hear opinions on where newbies invest successfully nowadays and what strategies do they use?