Rental Arbitrage in Miami to build capital, or invest elsewhere?

[Ivan A Urquiza]

Good Afternoon, Hope all is well. My name is Ivan Urquiza, and I am a emergency room RN currently living in Miami, FL. First off, wanted to say a big thank you to Bigger Pockets as well as the BP community as a whole. Truly life changing. I am a complete newbie to real estate investing, however been devouring as many episodes of the podcast I can, as well as reading books recommended directly through either episodes or forums. I will be purchasing my first rental property this year, and I want to specifically get into STRs. I live in Miami, so the prices of property in my area are extremely high. My question to the BP community is this, would you recommend starting off with a rental arbitrage? Or purchasing a property outside of Miami all together. I feel that an arbitrage would be a good way to get my feet wet and learn the ropes, but again rent prices in Miami are very high so it still would be a costly endeavor. Also do not like the fact that I am not building equity and do not own the property. I do have some capital that I have managed to save through my W2, but it wont get me very far where I currently live. I would like my first deal to be close to home, but with the current prices purchasing anything worthwhile in Miami may not be feasible for me at the moment. Would love to hear some suggestions or maybe personal experience from anyone who has gone through a similar scenario. Look forward to hearing from you! Thanks again, take care.