I'm still making mistakes and learning but if you have any questions I will try my best to answer them.Kim

You know they will want to add more bedrooms to your house by eliminating the dining room and any den or other similar space and turning it into more bedrooms, right? 

So, real estate agents may do it part-time, but rarely do they do it well.Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

What's your biggest real estate mistake?

I did reach out to an agent using the BP tool and have been in contact with them, so fingers crossed.The first agent I started working with about a year ago was a friend of a friend (maybe that was the first mistake).

:) I started with Lodgify, what a mistake!

You may also want to look at a cash out refinance to eliminate one or more Heloc or a few credit cards to lower your DTI and outgoing monthly debts.A heloc is a risk since its an open end mortgage like a credit card which carries a higher risk versus a 30 year mortgage. 

This is one of the biggest mistakes investors nationwide make. 

I have liquid funds ready, but I want to make sure this is worth my time compared to the 5-6% cap rates I've seen on multifamily units in South Florida, which are close to what I already get from CDs and high-yield savings accounts without the hassle of property management.I'm also hesitant to invest out of state since I'm new to real estate and don’t want to make a costly mistake.

I made this mistake recently because I keep my credit locked but forgot to unlock and was shocked when I got a denial... turns out it was my own doing, I temporarily unlocked and they fixed it3.