Newbie Looking for Guidance

[Luke Siecinski]

Hey there! My name is Luke Siecinski. I'm looking to get into real estate investing and would appreciate advice. I've been researching rental arbitrage for several months, then discovered Bigger Pockets and realized real estate investing in it's traditional sense is more tangible than I thought. At the beginning though, I think I want to still go the STR route. I live in Nashville, and I am looking at properties/units in Gatlinburg, TN to start since this is a proven profitable vacation rental market. The goal is to work out an agreement with a landlord/property manager where I would essentially be the tenant or person managing the property and with consent list the property on Airbnb on a short term rental basis, paying the property manager the monthly rent and keeping the rest. My inexperienced plan is to start with two or three STRs to generate enough cash flow to then use to start investing in real estate (probably here in Nashville) whether that's fix and flip or BRRRR or buy and hold (not 100% sure on my niche yet). I've been engulfing myself in information whether that's podcasts or books to learn as much as I can. I'm in the middle of reading How to Invest in Real Estate for newbies, and if I've learned anything yet it's that you just have to do it. I realize this is a bit unconventional, but in my brain (again, inexperienced!) it makes sense for me financially with the money I have saved to do the STRs first because of lower start up cost (furnishing/deposit) and not having to come up with a down payment. All that to say, I am a 'newbie' and am just learning the ropes. Does this make sense? Should I switch up my approach and if so, how? What recommendations would you have? I appreciate having a community that I can come to and ask questions cause truth be told I'm not sure if this is a dumb idea or not! Looking forward to your responses. Thanks!

[Avery Carl]

Hey Luke! Congrats on getting started! Gatlinburg is a pretty tough place to try and start with arbitrage, mainly because there are dozens of overnight property management companies that an owner could place their property with and make more money than renting to an arbitrager. I think you have a better shot of making that strategy work in Nashville. Good luck and congrats on taking your first steps!