I am in the Tampa area.  Starting my search for our first 'investment' property.  There are so many options it can sometimes be overwhelming so I started by writing out my goals to help narrow my path.

Goals:

1) Create Retirement Income (10-15 years out)

2) Pay properties off in 15 years (probably through rent appreciation)

3) Minimize vacancies and repairs

4) Work with higher quality tenants/families

5) Purchase first rental property in 90 days ($180k-250k)

Based on my goals it seems that Buy and Hold rentals is the definitely the way to go. The BRRR method on these would allow for maximum cash flow. Ideally from what I understand I would want these to be in B class neighborhoods with good school districts. At least a 3/2/2 would be ideal.

As many people are experiencing at the moment the deep discounted deals are not easy to find.  I see a few options and would like some opinions.

1) Pay retail for something that will be a good long term investment (at least breakeven on cashflow).

2) Find something that has a quirk and has been sitting on the MLS for a while (and hope that the quirk isn't too big of a hinderance on my goals above).

3) Attend meetups/network to see if I can find something that would fit that is 'off market'.