Hello from Winchester, Virginia

[Ryan Shaw]

Hello my name is Ryan and my wife and I are in our early twenties and live in (geographic) northern Virginia (not NOVA).  We both graduated college in 2012, work full time, are expecting our first child very soon, and are currently living in our second home.  We were able to keep the first property (purchased with a USDA 0% down loan - great program) as a rental and move into a somewhat less expensive single family home.  We did not purchase the first property with an investor's scrutiny but the property does cash flow enough that it's a stand alone venture.  That pretty much represents the extent of our real estate investing experience to date.

Moving forward, we are looking more along the lines of a buy and hold strategy rather than flipping.  Our goal is to develop a portfolio of rental properties while still working full time.  I found BP podcast 006 with Arthur Garcia to be mostly representative of what we are looking to do.  My intent is to use this portfolio to accelerate my retirement horizon and develop a secondary stream of income that's less dependent on my physical time.  Trading time for money on someone else's schedule isn't my (or most people's) idea of an ideal situation.  

I'm looking forward to tapping into the advise and experience this forum has to offer.