My name is Steve and at 46 years old, I'm looking to possibly start a STR business and while I've been doing a lot of research, I guess I'm feeling a little lost (or maybe overwhelmed is a better way of describing it).

For a little background, I'm currently a W2 employee (and have been always). My wife is as well. We moved to Florida 2 years ago and love it here. We're currently outside of Orlando and have been looking to find something in our backyard (within 30ish miles or so)

Our situation:

-We have pretty much no debt at all, including owning our home. We do owe a bit on a Truck we bought earlier in the year, but that's it. No CC debt or any other consumer debt.

-Our current home is probably worth around $500 - $550 (with current market conditions)

-We wanted to focus on having no debt, but now we also aren't left with a lot of capital and very little in retirement (hence our desire to look into real estate to help build wealth and recurring income). Would be nice to retire someday haha.

So, I guess I'm just wondering how to get started since we don't have a ton for a down payment (could probably come up with $25k in cash without touching a current 401k that's not all that large).

Also, the Orlando area (and outlying area) looks to be pretty saturated, but there is also a TON of tourist's that visit here too so I'm not sure if one cancels out the other in this type of business. I would be willing to look at other markets here in Florida such as Tampa, Sarasota, Pensacola or other similar type of places, I just haven't done much research into those areas yet. And, since we're just starting out and wanting to learn the business, we thought it best to stay as close to home as we could for the time being.

Anyway, consider me a dry sponge. I'm willing to learn as much as I can as we look to start into this business. I'd love any advice, tips, thoughts, concerns, or anything else you have to offer a rookie like me.

Thank you all so much and I sincerely appreciate you taking any time you can spare to help us out!

Steve

Orlando, Florida

3 Votes