Newbie-Trying to learn the ropes from Cleveland, Ohio

[Mike Trzaska]

Hi All,

My name is Mike and I'm from the Tremont Area of Cleveland, Ohio. I came to this site with hopes to learn as much as I can, and when the time is right, both financially and personally start investing in Real Estate. I am a total newb, as the only Real Estate experience I have is buying a home of my own and working with a contractor to do a significant renovation. 

I feel that Cleveland is starting to turn the corner from up and coming to full blown resurrected rust belt city. I want to be a part of that resurgence in whatever small way I can. I am particularly interested in up and coming neighborhoods, like those of Tremont, OHC, Detroit Shoreway, Edgewater, Slavic Village, and North Collinwood. Currently, I am starting to save up a down payment and really learn as much as I can about REI and the markets that I am interested in.

My ultimate goal in getting into this is to "retire" by 45, and by "retire" I mean to be not reliant on a 9-5 in the corporate world for my income. Whether I actually retire and stop working a 9-5 would be completely up to me at this point. My less loftier goal is just to be less dependent on the corporate world for income. I am almost 28 and I have spent the last 5 years working in a few different jobs, all of which I have never really fallen in love with nor had a passion for. I want to be able to pursue my passions in life, and it is yet to be seen if I will find that in the corporate world, but I do feel that REI can be one avenue to follow my passion for real estate and give me flexibility to pursue my passions for fly fishing, snowboarding, and spending time with my family.

I wish you all the best in whatever endeavors you are pursuing and I hope to posting here regularly as I start learning and investing.

Thanks,

Mike