Investor? from Maryland

[Robert Morse]

Hey guys, figured I'd introduce myself instead of just lurking like I've been doing for the past month. I guess I'm an investor; I'm kind of doing my own thing.  Graduated from UMCP with a degree in economics in 2009 and then moved out of my parents' house and down to Southern Maryland for a job. I rented a one bedroom apartment for a year and realized that I HATE paying rent. So the next year, at the naive age of 23, I purchased a foreclosed townhouse in Great Mills, MD and started fixing it up.  I also immediately started renting out a room to offset the price of my mortgage payment. I quickly realized that both a house without a garage and southern Maryland is not for me and moved up to the DC area at the end of 2013/beginning of 2014. I also refinanced into a 15 year loan in order to pay off the townhouse faster.  The guy who was renting out a room for the past year and a half took over renting out the whole house for my mortgage payment and I started paying rent again up in the DC area.

Flash forward to end of 2015 and I'm looking to pick up another house and do the same thing over again; I've also increase my monthly payment on my first house.  I've been preapproved and I found a short sale in an area that I believe will see some tremendous growth in the next ten years. The house is priced under comps and my offer has been accepted by the listing agent; I'm just waiting (and waiting and waiting) to hear back from the bank. In the meantime, I've decided that I need to get serious about this whole renting/investing/landlord deal now that I'm about to own two properties.  This is what landed me here and I'm looking forward to learning from all of you who have been doing what I'm doing, except much more efficiently.