New member from Denison, Iowa

[TJ Hollander]

Hello BiggerPockets Community! My name is TJ. I'm 26 and I'm from Denison, Iowa, a small town of around 9k. I'm currently working a 3-11 production job trying to save up enough money to get started in real estate. Fortunately I'm able to spend a couple of hours a night listening to BiggerPockets podcasts, which are very interesting and educational. The podcasts have help me realize I want to start my real estate investment career with buy and hold rental properties.

My main concern right now is, how much money should I try to save before considering buying my first property which will likely cost between 30k-100k if I only want to risk my own money through a bank loan?