Hello from Silicon Valley

[Jeffrey Lo]

Hello everyone, 

My wife and I are mid-30-something Silicon Valley professionals looking to diversify our investments (only stocks today) to include a large portion of it in real estate. 

We love real estate. One of our favorite past-times is to drive around neighborhoods and read the MLS. Problem is we did not know enough to act on. We bought our current house in 2009 and see tremendous equity gain.

We are interested in turn-key properties to start, particularly those in OR, AZ, and TX. We are also curious about TN. Still need to narrow down.

Excited to be part of BP. I am already diligently listening to the podcast and learning tons!

Jeff

[Darren Sager]

Welcome to BP @Jeffrey Lo  ! Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself. I think a great way to begin using BP is to read the Bigger Pockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing as Josh and Brandon did a great job with it. And now that you're here we'd love to see you be an active member of the BP community so be sure to set up Keywords Alerts for your local area such as "Silicon Valley" or "Cupertino" if you're looking to find potential opportunities for investing, education in a subject, or other members in your area.  Personally I would invest closer to home and not that far away to start but that's me.  

Use the Find Members area to network with other members who are local to you or are in an area you're wanting to invest in. Podcasts come out weekly and are great way to learn on the move. I find there's always a gold nuggets of information in each one and I go back to listen to a number of them multiple times.

If you want to find events that are going on in your area be sure to check out the Real Estate Events and Happenings area of BiggerPockets. Here you can find meet ups of local BP members or other groups that get together, network, and have education about real estate investing. Some of these events they might try to sell you into a mentoring program or try to sell you something else. In most cases you'll find everything you need here on BP so don't spend any extra money elsewhere. There are many great members here on BP who are tremendous resources of information and will help you greatly. And there are some who are just here to try to sell you something or make money off of you so don't be naive to it. Their true intentions come out eventually.  You mentioned turn key properties.  There are members who will suggest opportunities for you because they'll make a commission on it.  So be wary.

Be sure to read through the rules of the forums here. How you'll get the most out of BiggerPockets is to understand how to navigate through it and understand that it's a two way street. You'll get out of it what you put into it so become active and help us grow the community and wealth of knowledge that's already here.

If you appreciate a post that a fellow member put up responding to you be sure to say "Thank You!" by casting a vote for it. If you're reading through the forums and a post or response is good or answers another member's question well then cast a vote for it. It's our own version of liking something on Facebook provided you're familiar with that. Simply click the box in the upper right corner of the post!

And lastly I highly recommend becoming a Plus or Pro member of the site and take advantage of all that BP has to offer you. It's like getting the keys to the kingdom. It will be one of the best investments you'll make when it comes your real estate investing.

Again welcome to Bigger Pockets!