Hey Tom I have a lot of experience here in Pinellas County, currently managing about 65 units.I would recommend staying out of Tarpon as they are strict 30 night minimum rental, and the demand is not as high as Clearwater/St Pete which also have 30 night minimums. 

Knowledge and experience only come in hand after you've made those mistakes in life and business. nursing is a guaranteed pay check !

If I had a crystal ball I could tell you what the future holds with certainty…in my experience and opinion though, I believe you’ll find Lehi to be a great option for the criteria that you’re specifying.

You shouldn't do either of those with your mother's money unless you have the experience in real estate investing.

I have experience as an SFR investor (rentals), as a realtor as well as corporate experience in mortgage lending and servicing practices from a large bank - all of which I will leverage to grow my MLO career.

Typically speaking a 2 bedroom will bring in more if all other metrics are the same (i.e. location and amenities).In saturated and competitive markets I really do not like 1 bedroom or even 2 bedrooms as the barrier to entry is low and you will always have a lot of competition, and you are even competing with hotels at that point.Also building HOA's are scary, and Florida implemented the milestone inspection which means special assessments in most cases.Without diving deeper on all the numbers I cannot it will not make sense, but in my experience it will not make sense more times than not and it is risky.

If anyone has experience with doing private deals, please share your experience.

Hopefully, someone with experience from Oklahoma will respond to your post. 

Experience has taught me these areas are challenging to manage, and appreciation is harder to come byGino

I’d be a little wary of initially buying as big as you can because with only 2 doors currently you may not have enough experience.