Investing in Fort Lauderdale and Seattle

[Suzie Remilien]

I'm a former Fort Lauderdale resident trying to invest in Broward County. I used to live just off Powerline Road between Sunrise Blvd. and Oakland Park Blvd. I now live in Seattle. My strategy is to buy and hold small multifamily and single family properties in the Seattle area and in Fort Lauderdale. I'd like to have at least 5 doors within the next 10 years.

All of my immediate family is still in the Fort Lauderdale area, and I have already started to build a team - property manager, realtor, lender - in the area. However, I would like to expand this team and connect with and partner with other investors.  That leads to two questions:

1) How are you finding your deals - MLS, auctions or wholesalers? Which approach have you had the most success with? Are there some unique challenges to investing in Broward County?

2) What suggestions do you have for growing my team? I will be visiting Fort Lauderdale for this purpose in September. I'm planning to attend Broward REIA and the Real Estate & Business Network meetup that meets at the Denny's on Oakland Park Blvd. What other groups or people do you think I should visit or meet?