Where to start as young professional wanting to get involved with real estate investment

[Charley Park]

To start off, I have no idea what type of response to expect from my question. My Bigger Pockets forum cherry is dunzo!

I am a 25 year old working man. I moved to Nashville from Knoxville after college for my first job. Currently I work for a Healthcare IT Consulting company, and needless to say I make good money. Currently I make around 120K/year and have close to 80K in my checking account. Yes you heard it right.... checking account. I invested some money into a friends oil drilling shindig, but have not done much else.

Due to Nashville's booming real estate market, I have been surrounded by motivational queues to get my butt into this business. It seems like a great new challenge and opportunity to make yourself a comfortable living and overall be in a competitive market where you will never get bored!

My coworkers/friends have already purchased homes for both living and investment purposes assuming the market for these homes will only rise.

Overall, after being intrigued and listening to Bigger Pockets podcast, and I more interested than ever to take my first baby step into the world.

Overall, I have no idea where to start. My thought process now is to read a few books, continue listening to all the Bigger Pockets podcast, and ultimately buy a home or some type of property in the very near future.

Seeing that I have no idea what I am doing, I would love to get some advice and guidance from veterans. So overall, my situation is that I have 80K in my account, making 120K/year, 25 years old living in a booming Nashville real estate market, not knowing what to do with my first actual purchase. 

Any advice would be appreciated. 

Best,

Young Adult Pocket