Wanting to invest in STR in my local beach town

[Liz Fisher]

I live in Navarre, FL just across the bridge from beautiful Navarre Beach which is nestled between Destin and Pensacola Beach. We're becoming quite a popular tourist destination and I would like to invest in a condo that my husband and I would manage ourselves as locals, with the hope of one day having a beach condo paid for that we can move to when the kid is grown and we're retired, and then rent out our 3br home as a LTR for extra income. It would be awesome if the condo would even cash flow giving us some passive income (ok not completely passive as I understand it is a lot of work but my husband is medically retired and has all the time in the world!) 

I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the research and info I've found here and hoping y'all could help me narrow down what I need to know for my specific interest. 

We have a mortgage of about 130K but our home value has skyrocketed since we purchased to a minimum of about $200K+. We have excellent credit and won't have any other debt besides a measly car loan.  I plan to have about 30K cash saved (hopefully!) 

Would be looking at probably just 1 bed 1 bath condos on the beach for no more than 220K.

I'm a newbie to real estate and finance, I'm a a Registered Nurse by trade, so I appreciate yall's advice on where to start, how to go about financing this deal and if it would be the right decision for what we're wanting. I believe we would need to use the potential rental income to qualify for a loan since we already have our own mortgage. Any locals that could chime in on how their STRs are doing in the area, if the rental income will cover all the costs? Thanks for any and all advice! 

[Luke Carl]

Condos can be a bit tougher. Google "non warrantable condo" and learn what that means. Loan terms aren't great and down-payments are bigger. Single family homes are much more favorable. In this area insurance and taxes are a big cost. I'm dealing with this right now in your area -shopping homeowners/wind insurance. We're very spoiled in east TN with low everything. 

BUT if your goal is to break even with self management it can likely be done! As long as the building doesn't have an assessment anytime soon. Google that also. "Condo Assessment" 

Listen to bigger pockets podcast number 364 for more info on STR!