Get a foot in the door by working for property mgmt company?

[William Givens]

Hi everyone! Here is my situation. I work a typical office 9-5 job and see no further advancement within this company. On top of that, I live in NYC and will be looking to escape the high cost of living/taxes and low quality of life that this city has. I am determined to get into real estate investing and I am looking to invest in FL or St. Louis; reason being that I grew up in FL and lived in St. Louis for 3.5 years so I am more comfortable with these ares in terms of investing. 

What I am thinking of doing to get my foot in the door, and which will allow me to relocate to FL, is to apply for jobs with property management companies in the Jacksonville area. I have family in the area so I would have 0 living expenses and I could save way more than I ever could in NYC. 

I specifically want to pursue buy and hold investing until I can master that then potentially move on to other forms of investing (flipping, wholesaling etc...).  For this reason I think it would be a good idea to get some experience through working for a property mgmt company to really learn the business. Just want to see what everyone thinks of this as far as getting a foot in the door with real estate. Anybody know of good property management companies or better yet, ones to stay away from? 

Looking forward to all your replies! 

Will