I'm glad to be here and there is so much to learn and decide!

[Patrick Penderel]

Hello everyone! I'm so glad that I found this space a few years ago and now I'm just starting to get serious about my REI journey. I feel like there is so much knowledge out there and I feel like I'm being tossed around with the ideas in my head of what to do to get started. Any insight that people want to give would be greatly appreciated for my situation. I have little capital, about $40k, in the bank and I have about $150k of equity if my personal residence. So, I've got some things to work with but not sure where to go. I do want to keep my first investment local. I reside in the central valley of CA.

[Joshua Noth]

Welcome to the site @Patrick Penderel.  There is a ton of information out there, but it's very important to have a good foundation of information for investing.  Necessary? No, but neither is a wearing life vest on a boat.  The best piece of advice to give at this point is to learn, learn, learn.  Whether its through these forums, through the podcasts, books, etc.  Find what strategies would work best for you, what areas, etc.  Investing locally to start is a smart move - you get to keep things close, see it in person, and so on.

Start learning, keep learning, and then start connecting and networking with those in you area.  Wishing you the best of luck!