Newbie investor looking for direction

[Joseph K.]

Hi everyone,

I discovered BP about 6 months and have been reading the site ever since. It’s a great community and I’m looking forward to learning a lot from all of the valuable resources that are here.

A little background first. I am looking to transition out of my current job by the end of this year and would like to position myself for a future in real estate investing. I work abroad, so I am limited with respect to the amount of on-the-ground research that I can do for the time being.

I am in the fortunate position in that I have been able to save quite a bit over the last 5 years, so I don’t intend on getting a full time job after I leave my current position. I plan on joining a real estate mentoring club once I return to my hometown, and continue to prepare myself as much as possible over the coming months.

Some general questions that I have:

1) What are some things I could do to prepare myself in order to hit the ground running?
2) What type of real estate would you recommend for a first time investor?
3) What piece of advice do you wish you had before you closed your first deal?

Any and all help would be much appreciated!

Thanks.