New South Florida Investor - Seeking Advice

[Taniele Clarke]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to BiggetPockets and real estate investing as a whole. I've spent some time researching and absorbing as much information as I can.

Along with two of my friends, we've decided to look into long term rental properties in the South Florida area.

We'll set up and LLC and apply for an EIN which seems to be fairly simple to do on our own.

We would, however, like to use a lawyer for our operating agreement as there are three of us. Would you have any recommendations for someone local to South Florida?

We're also looking for a real estate agent. Preferably someone who is also an investor. Would love to get your recommendations on this.

In addition, we need recommendations for a CPA, contractors and handymen, insurance agent and a property manager.

Two of us live out of the country while the third lives in South Florida. We're thinking it's best to use a PM so an unreasonable load doesn't fall on our local partner.

I'd also love to hear from those of you who've gone the partnership route to get started. Specifically I have questions regarding who goes on the mortgage. Should we all apply together and be responsible for the debt. Is there ever a case where it makes sense for just one person to be on the mortgage? From what I read, we can all be on a title even if we aren't all on the mortgage. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

We've know each other for a very long time and while I know that's no guarantee for success I truly believe we are like minded enough to give it a go.

Of course, we want to be smart about it and make sure we are all protected and everything is stated and understood upfront before getting started.

As you can see we are fresh but we're very eager to get started and we'd love to hear from some of you who are more experienced.

I'm very excited to start this journey and that's only tempered by the fact that I didn't start sooner!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for sharing any advice you may have to offer.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Taniele Clarke