HELP! Rental Condos as investments?

General Real Estate Investing
1

My wife and I have been thinking of purchasing a couple of condos to rent out as an investment for us. Is this a good time to do this? We have been thinking about either Las Vegas, Scottsdale or South Florida, but are not sure if this is even a good time to jump into the market. We do not have strong real estate investing experience; our mortgages on our current homes have been paid off, and this would be a cash deal on our end.

Any advice would really be greatly appreciated. Are we better off purchasing properties in different states or all in the same city?

2

This is all about speculation and opinion:

(1) You shouldn’t really use your cash resserves (capital) for a single puchase…the strength of REI is the ability to use OPM (other people’s money) to safely leverage your money/investments.

(2) IMO Las Vegas, Scottsdale and South Florida all have their own problems…LV is falling rapidly; Scottsdale is way over-priced and probably won’t cashflow, and South Florida is spotty dependin on exact location…

Keith