I flew out there recently so my flight and hotel stay added up to $1500 - that pretty much eliminated much of my cash flow for the year.

The best that you can do is to stay true to the numbers that allow your strategy to work, and don't succumb to bidding wars if it means you buy a bad investment. 

I live around just over the bridge from the island in FWB.Demand stays really high March through October, and slows for the 4 winter months, just like Destin.If I can help you run numbers on properties or give you any insight please let me know! 

I would stay away from retail and general office as online purchasing (Amazon) has devastated retail property investments and Covid work from home has hit office properties hard as well. 

Hello,Does anyone know of a company or individual that would be interested in buying a home with the owners wanting to stay in the home and become tenants?

He seems very knowledgable in real estate.

As a CA resident, you may wish to find a CPA based in CA or at least very knowledgeable about CA taxes since CA can be a bit more complicated than other states. 

Reason I tell you to only use part of the $50K is because its better to use the banks money.That also allows you to stay cash fluid and have reserves for repairs and renovations.

@Joe FunariHi Joe, Thank you for that long knowledgeable reply.

You avoid 8-12 months of pain having to deal with builder delays, ground breaking due to winter/hard ground, costs of materials or shortage of inventories, etc.If that’s not your cup of tea you still have Charlotte, Duram and Fayetteville all offer some great sale prices on SFR's and 2-4 units for STR/LTR.Owning a home is a plus to get started if there is equity to use and you want to stay cash fluid just pull out some cash through a refinance or Heloc to cover the DP on the new REI.