New guy from NY - starting my real estate education here

[Aaron K.]

Hi guys, my name is Aaron, and I'm from Putnam County, NY. I own a small ecommerce company which takes up most of my time, but I've had an interest in real estate my whole life. I've recently become more interested in exploring passive cashflow techniques, and realized that I could potentially do that through my lifelong interest in real estate. I actually found a Bigger Pockets video on YouTube while browsing other real estate videos, and stumbled upon this enormous wealth of information. It's actually taken about a week to post this intro thread because I've been caught up reading dozens of articles on this site.

My interest lies in purchasing rental properties. I have laid out a tentative 10-year plan which begins with two single-family homes and progresses, using the cashflow saved, to duplexes, then 4-plexes, then smal apartments, then large apartment buildings. I'm fairly undereducated in this field, so the idea is to immerse myself in education this year, use what I learn here over the next year to refine that 10-year plan, run it by other members for their input and expertise, and then put it into motion next year.

Glad to be here!

[Ali Boone]

Love your picture Aaron! :) Welcome to BP. Rental properties rock. You're totally in the right line of thinking. Rentals are all I buy as well. A lot of people on here flip and wholesale and all that but I'm not into doing that much work. Rentals have insane amounts of benefit to them.

As a newbie, just make sure you understand numbers. I'd say the biggest mistake people make is buying a property that won't actually put money in your pocket every month. In NY too you will find this more than not. So be careful there.

You can actually learn everything you need to about rentals in way less time than a year. You'll do great once you jump in!