New to BP / First Buy-and-Holds

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Hello all... 

My name's Bryan, I'm a recent grad of Ohio State University in May of '14 with a degree in financial services, and I am brand new to BP. Since graduation, I've been working in the finance department at a fortune 500 company. It's a great job for my current situation, but I'm very interested in the potential of real estate investing as a full-time career, and the overwhelming amount of free info on BP and other places online has me eager to learn and get started on my first deal.

I'm most interested right now in getting more familiar with buy-and-holds and creating passive income to build my portfolio and net worth. I'm looking to network with investors in the area and learn more about how to find these types of properties and seek out deals / motivated sellers.

What are some things I can do to get the ball rolling, and what are some areas in northeast Ohio that I shuold be searching in for this type of investment?