All Forum Posts by: Stephen Anderson

My wife and I moved to southwest Florida and have 150k to invest. We are trying to deciding between rentals or fix/flip properties. We both enjoyed rehabbing our own homes and can see the upside of fix and flip. One trend we're noticing is banks holding on to foreclosures due the increasing home values here so finding deals is a bit tougher than even a year ago.For that reason we are thinking of buying homes/condos to keep as rental units and use the income that rental properties provide to acquire more properties.

We'd appreciate any relevant input you can provide

Thanks for the great input. I forgot to mention that I have joined a REI group and have been to my first meeting with them. I lucked out because I happened to come on a night when a realtor in the group set up several houses for us to walk through. We then met back at their usual meeting place to discuss the potential of each property. They meet weekly but plan to do walkthroughs once a month.

It was at this meeting that my thoughts went from flipping to rentals as most of the houses we toured were older 2/2/1 block homes. One, long time, investor brought up "contract for deed" and "lease purchase" options for local home owners that are located in high risk flood areas and therefore can't sell thheir properties. Needless to say I learned a ton from these investors.They meet weekly but plan to do walkthroughs once a month.

The county south of me that projects the higher growth has quite a few twinplex properties available. If I could get them for the right price they would make great rentals.

After two years of travel my wife and I are ready to put down roots in a new location. At risk of being cliche we decided Florida was where we wanted to be. We don't own any real estate now but are living comfortably in our RV and can do so for another year if need be.

We also are interested in real estate investing and are actively looking for homes to renovate for the purpose of flipping or keep as rentals. I have 150k to get started but am faced with some options. 1) Use the 150k to buy a primary residence for ourselves then use that equity to finance future real estate investments or 2) buy houses to flip in an effort to increase my capital. 3) Buy a multifamily unit to rent out and use that equity/income to finance future deals.

I am also looking at the projected population growth for the state of Florida and was wondering if we should focus our efforts in another county. The county I have been looking is expected to grow 13% to 180,000 by 2025. That would be about 20,500 new residents.

The county just to my south is projected to grow by 35%. That would be 220,000 new residents.

Would I be better off moving my efforts to the more populated county with the higher projected growth?

I feel like a cat I saw that went after a flock of birds in our yard. When they all took off there were so many the cat didn't know which one to go after and ultimately ended up with none...

Thanks for any input..