How long should I prepare before investing?

[Justin Foster]

I've only been learning about REI for 3 or 4 days now and I know I haven't even scratched the surface yet. How long should I learn about REI before I start getting my feet wet?

Or since I'm sure the length of time varies between people, how will I know when I'm ready to try out buying my first property?

So far I've been thinking of spending 6 months or so learning everything I can before trying out my first purchase, but I don't know how realistic this goal would be.