Newbie from Boca Raton, Florida!

[Darius Striglers]

Hello BP Community!

My name is Darius and I currently reside in Boca Raton, FL.

I graduated with my bachelor's in Intl. Business in 2015 and I have been in the workforce since then. Although I do enjoy my job, My wife and I want to work towards building a better future for ourselves. This is one of the reasons that led me to REI and finding Bigger Pockets.

I joined BP around 2 months ago and I have been cruising around the forums and building my REI education before jumping in. Since then I have been constantly reading books, articles, blogs and listening to podcasts. I wanted to get a better grasp of knowledge (There is so much of it!) before introducing myself. My primary focus is to own a multifamily, and since I'm in the process of saving, it would preferable to "House Hack" my 1st investment by end of 2017 /early 18' latest.

I have started to analyze various areas in the Palm Beach (Boca Raton) and Fort Lauderdale area, but I'm more so interested in investing in the Fort Lauderdale area. So far I noted that this area has been expanding/improving and the rental market is strong. Although there are opportunities in this competitive market, I know it puts me in a less favorable position vs. other investors that will have the cash and will be able to close quickly. I won't let that deter me and for this reason I know I will have to grind hard and find creative ways to find deals.

I plan on driving more through the neighborhoods to see what is around, find vacant / homes for sale and hopefully getting some "hands-on" experience. One concern I have is that I would like to have more opportunities to look at homes in person and not just crunching the calculations from afar; to get more precise values/estimations and to see how the property looks overall. What would the best way to go about this? For example, if I would like to visit homes via realtor.com or Zillow.com, it would be through an agent. How would I go about this without providing a non generic pre-approval letter? I know on their side, there is the risk that someone could be wasting their time.

Is it better for someone in my position to stick to driving for dollars, FSBO, direct mailing, etc. to have that direct contact and get more walkthroughs?

I look forward to learning more and hearing from my fellow BP members!

Feel free to contact me, I'm open for meeting up and chatting about REI.

Thanks!