Newbie from Phoenix, Arizona

[Jacob Sanders]

Hey everyone! My name is Jacob Sanders and I'm a real estate virgin, for lack of a better term. Myself, my wife, and my daughter live in Arizona and we just got married on February 8th. Woo! :) I heard about BiggerPockets while doing some research about real estate investing. It seems to me that this is definitely the place to start! I have wanted to get into real estate for several years now. It's always been something that I'm interested in, because I've always had quite the entrepreneurial spirit and mindset. I've always loved looking at property and houses in person and on the Internet and television. I'm a quick learner and I love to read and research things, so I will be on the forums quite frequently. My wife and I figured that after marriage would be a great time to get in the world of real estate investments. Our goal would be to work together as a team, part-time at first, and flip houses. I would love to flip my first house before the end of the year and make a nice profit! I don't take this lightly, so the research phase is very important to me/us. I want to make sure that my wife and I have more than enough information to make informed decisions about the properties that we invest in. Cash is tight, but we have a vision for what we want. With your knowledge, I have no doubt that we can get there! -Jacob

[Paul Santos]

@Jacob Sanders Welcome onboard to BP! It is an amazing community with insight to everything you can imagine about real estate. Make sure to checkout the free guides. Podcasts will give you some great ideas from a broad spectrum of investor types. Good luck!

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

Welcome to BP community @Jacob Sanders  It is a great place to meet new friends and learn about various aspects of real estate and more. Here are a few recommendations for you:

Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet

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Wishing you the best! 

[Chaz Reid]

Welcome to Bigger Pockets @Jacob Sanders 

[Andres Sotelo]

Welcome to BP. I am also a new to the BP community and I live in Glendale, AZ.  might not have much information to provide that will help you much at this time but I can tell you that you might want to attend the AZREIA and Phoenix real estate investment club meetings every month. I have attended one meeting of each program and I have obtained  very useful information. You might want to give that a thought. Well, good luck out there.

[Dick Rosen]

Welcome to BP Jacob and as @Andres Sotelo mentioned I highly recommend AZREIA and all of it's subgroups. I belong to 3 different REIA groups in 3 different states and AZREIA is by far the best and well worth your time.

[Ed Caldwell]

Welcome to the show and I agree with the other Zonies that  AZREI is a valuable learning and networking opportunity. I have been RE investing for the past couple of years and it is fun, scary, exciting and not easy by a long shot.  Don't get too caught up in analysis paralysis. Take it from a conservative CPA.  You have to learn enough to get started, but the key is  to GET STARTED.  I have learned more from doing and my mistakes than from any seminar, book or forum.  BP is a great resource to bounce questions while your doing.  I still work full time and thank God tax busy season is over so I can get back to my RE passion.  I started flipping, but it is harder to do in our market right now. Honestly, I am still figuring out which niche fits me best, but I am ramped up on direct mail and getting calls, so hopefully 2015 will be a banner year.  Best of luck and hope to see you at the AZREI meeting on Monday.