New to BP from TAMPA FL

[Michael Leonardo]

Hello BP community,

My name is Michael Leonardo & I'm from Tampa FL. I'm in the process of selling my catering business(REI money!) & looking forward to starting my second career in REI. I currently own 1 rental property, the first house my wife & I bought 20 years ago! We kept it & turned it into rental when we bought our bigger home, now that little seed we planted is growing into our next business venture. I plan on starting out with a few flips to get more cash flow going, then buy & hold SFR. My wife is becoming a licensed Realtor, which should benefit me in my ventures. I'm comfortable transitioning to a new and different career because of my experience in home re-modeling, I've done most aspects of a flip within my own houses & both my parents & friends homes over the years. I hooked up with the local REIA & have been attending REI weekly meetings in different parts of the Tampa area, networking & learning the ropes. It's amazing how open & friendly the REI community has been, lets just say it's a LITTLE different from the competitive environment I've been used to for the past 23 years as a small business owner!

I've been spending a lot of time recently on BP, surfing around the site & reading books related to Flipping & REI, even was able to attend a local seminar by Robyn Thompson sponsored by the Tampa REIA. I'm just trying to be a sponge & soak up as much info & knowledge as possible. BP community looks like a lot of great people with the same goals as myself, namely investing in our futures. This seems like a fantastic forum to get started , with all you helpful people willing to share your experience.

One specific thing I am looking for is a local Mentor that I could connect with in my area to learn from firsthand. I'm more than willing to trade my time/skills to help a Mentor with their day to day activities/projects/business needs in exchange for hands on knowledge. I'm open to different forms of partnering where I can learn but also give back.

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to read my post, I'm looking forward to the many networking & relationship building to come in my near future!