REI is brand new to me; best place to start?

[Travis Houck]

Hello BP!!

I’ve recently read (listened to) Rich Dad, Poor Dad and that has really switched gears in my mind. I’m of the mind set that I want to invest my salary into assets to create multiple streams of income. Long term I’d like my salary to be replaced with Real Estate and Index Funds.

Anyway, I've recently stumbled upon how great REI is and, I'd done correctly, how lucrative a long term investment it can be. I'm absolutely stunned by how such a savvy investment vehicle can be, albeit based on one's creativity, accessed with no or low money down!

So, I wanted to create this post as a way to say “Hi!” and to introduce myself.

I am 23, come from a lower-middle class family, with no college education. I worked retail for 5 years and have recently begun a temp position hoping to get into Vanguard and work more closely with finance. Nobody in my family has ever been involved in real estate, or any investing, really.

I feel rather out of my comfort zone. But I am determined to invest and to achieve financial independence. I hear so many times from investors the key difference between a successful investor and the average joe is the investor is a “do-er.” I have in my blood “doing!” I’ve always learned the hard way and have been willing to take risks.

In addition to introducing myself - I would like to humbly ask for some guidance. I’ve already watched a good 50-60 hours of BP and Samuel Leeds videos on YouTube. I just now downloaded on audible The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy. I have an amazon shopping cart with several highly recommended books as well.

What do you recommend as a good resource for a newb such as myself!

Thank you so much in advance! And please allow me this time to announce how thrilled I am to be here and happy I am something like BP exists!

[Matt Bertsch]

@Travis Houck Welcome to the BP family! I am located in Pennsylvania too, specifically the Lehigh Valley, and I am focusing on flips and value-add Multifamily. In my opinion one of the best actions you can take is to network, network, network. Whether it be on BP or in person. Join a local meet-up! The more people you meet and are in front of, the better. You'll learn from other people's experiences, get to know agents, finance brokers, contractors, etc. These relationships are vital to your knowledge and business development! 

I know you mentioned you've watched a lot of youtube videos already but In case you need them, here are few things to check out as you work your way around the site:

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search/users

Set up some keyword alerts to notify you when members are discussing something that interests you. I use this a lot for location and topic based discussions: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

Read Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

Let me know if I can help you with anything else. Best of luck!

-MB