Almost got sucked into a couple "guru" sessions but fortunately didn't fall them.

Straight out of high school I served in the military and then spent the past 10 years working in IT.I have finally reached a point where I’m tired of working for the corporate industry on a limited salary while doing nothing for my retirement.For the past year I’ve been watching house flipping shows and decided I wanted to give it a try.Six months ago I bought my first house with a 203k loan that I’m currently living in so I could get some experience.I paid $167,500 for the house and took out $35,000 with the 203k.The house was a probate that had been abandoned for 5 years.Half the house was on a concrete slab that had sunk about 4” in the middle and it was completely outdated.We removed 2 load bearing walls to open up the kitchen, knocked out the back wall, built a new subfloor, and put up a 4 panel sliding glass door to let in some sun light.We installed porcelain tile in the kitchen, stainless steel appliances, new cabinets and quartz counters as well as recessed lighting.We fixed the foundation problems by mudjacking to raise the floors and carpeted the back 3 rooms that sat on top of the slab.As you can imagine we ran through the $35,000 quickly.The 2 bathrooms are still outdated and the house needs new siding.After the renovation we had it reappraised (per the 203k loan agreement) and they said it was worth $215,000.About 3 months after the renovation I attended a 3 day Fortune Builders seminar and come to a realization I probably could have saved about $20,000 if I had systems and processes to follow before I purchased the house.After listening to BP podcasts and hear other people’s experiences I’m quite fortunate I didn’t lose money.This sums up my real estate investing experience.

Fortunately, there is no HOA involved. 

I really think you may want to take another look at Cleveland and reconsider, we are an amazing space:Did you know:CLE - home to the 2016 Republican National ConventionCLE - Superman was created hereCLE - Cleveland Clinic #1 Heart Surgery Center in the WorldCLE - Over a dizen Fortune 500 CompaniesCLE - Second largest theatre district in the CountryCLE - Epicenter for BioMed Research & DevelopmentCLE - A great place for the WHOLE family/CLE - A great place for investing come check out the beautiful things CLE has.

I hope you find good fortune.

If Florida is anything similar to its northern neighbor (Georgia), you can probably build for as low as $60/sf if you're your own GC, if you don't have to spend a fortune on utility hook-ups and if permit costs are relatively low.We build with mid-level finishes in the low-$60s/sf in Atlanta...

I'm not looking to make a fortune here.

Count yourself lucky and hope your that fortunate with your next tenets.

You are fortunate to be in the situation where your parents have so much equity available and you are smart for leveraging that position.

I see a lot of people who want to be Real Estate Investors but who are professional students that have spent a fortune of money and time on classes who have yet to do one deal.