Newbie from State College, PA

[Brett F]

Hi all,

I'm a 21 year old professional poker player. I'm a senior at Penn State University, majoring in Finance. I'm making a pretty substantial income for someone my age. Though the swings of my occupation make it difficult to project earnings, I should barely make 6 figures this year (a goal I set for myself in February).

My parents have been pushing me to get involved in real estate since March and though I am very interested, I feel like I don't know where to begin (unfortunately there's only so much school can teach). I've picked up some books and am looking at local listings. I have a pretty substantial amount of capital sitting around that I want to put to use.

For now, my interest is in purchasing a house/condo and renting it out.

As I've said, I've had the means and the support from my parents to do this for a while but I really don't like to jump into things without knowing what I'm doing. I'm certainly looking for advice/recommendations.

Brett