New RE Investor needing direction where to begin

[Andrea D.]

Hi all! I am curious what are some things you wish you knew as a first time investor in real estate, and how did you start?  I am a CPA with 7 years of experience in which I specialized in real estate partnership taxation. Therefore, I know the tax rules like 1031 exchanges and everything related to NOL carry-forwards & carry-backs, partnership basis rules, etc, but am missing the foundation on how to start, best ways to finance as someone trying to get their foot in the door, best ways to look for deals, what items are a must to know beforehand, etc. 

What would someone recommend for my circumstances? I am in my 30's, single, and own my condo (primary residence which has about $50k of equity in if I need the capital). My credit score is above 825, however I think I am limited when it comes to traditional financing with my current salary since I already have my personal mortgage. I think for the first deal it will be ok if it's done in a LLC, but I would like to get more informed should opportunities pop up.

My 2 friends and I are looking at the idea of our first RE investment together (2 accountants and a PhD). We each have $10k to start off with and are thinking residential property in an LLC, but we are open to all ideas. We would prefer multi-family, but I'm not sure if that is feasible with our starting capital. Has anyone used financing other than a standard mortgage, have any recommendations on how to leverage the cash?

We are in Tampa, FL, so although there are many houses coming to market over the next handful of years from the silver tsunami baby boomers leaving their homes, finding affordable housing is still a problem & hard to find with the number of people moving here each year. I know it will be a crisis in 2021 with the decline in travel from COVID on the large number of families losing work that are in the restaurant and tourism industries (not to mention likely upcoming COVID baby boom). 

Therefore I was thinking somehow getting into multifamily somehow (perhaps a small hotel/motel that goes out of business as tourism declines, going in and rehabbing it into small studio apartments or something), but I'm not sure how the zoning works if that will be an issue...realistically I just need to get my foot in the door and learn the basics though. 

I left public accounting when I moved cross country so I am not super familiar with FL real estate outside the Tampa area.  I am currently working in property accounting for a global property management company. This gave me a better look seeing day to day operations within residential real estate, but it has limited my connections tenfold as the investors are now on the global scale as well (much harder for me to talk one on one with someone).

I know I would flourish if I find the right mentor or experienced partner or at least some type of direction from a person who has done it with whom I can ask questions to. I am just not sure how to go about finding this. I would absolutely love to hear any ideas or things that come to mind from others who felt motivated but confused where to start. 

Thank you so much in advance!

[Juan Rodriguez]

What he said! Attend REIA meetings and connect with people. Go slow out the gate too. To much info all at once and some investors shut down because they've been down that road and have been burned. Good luck to you!