New investor from Upstate NY

[Steve B.]

Hello biggerpockets community! My name is Steve and I live in the Albany, NY area. I work full time as a machinist, and although it provides me with a very good income, its still a job that requires my time in order to make money. Long hours with an abundance of overtime are great until you barely see your family anymore. I have always had a passion for real estate and would like to turn that passion into income. My long-term goal is to purchase enough rental properties in the greater Capital Region of NY that provide enough passive income to replicate what I make now. I am also intrigued by flipping just because of the short-term cash that can be used to acquire more rentals.

My real estate experience is purchasing and refinancing the current home I live in and one single-family rental in Watertown, NY that I purchased in 2007 as an owner-occupied house. It became a rental when I relocated out of the area a year later. I will make a detailed post on this particular house later on as it has been quite the learning experience!

What I hope to gain from biggerpockets is to learn from other investors and apply their strategies to make me successful. I have read a lot of posts and blogs over the past few months and this site is a wealth of information, much better than some hyped guru. I also have listened to some of the podcasts and find those to be very educational. My favorite books are probably Rich Dad Poor Dad and The Millionaire Fastlane. My Amazon wishlist is pretty long, but I am always open to suggestions on reading that helped you. My short term goal is to spend the first half of 2015 learning as much as I can, and by summer I should have enough capital to go ahead and purchase a rental.

Best of luck to everyone else out there!