Trapped in the S.F. Bay Area - just another noob.

[Ricardo Meza]

Good morning BP!

I'm glad I found this place, your knowledge, and more importantly, you! 

I stumbled upon this forum from a growing, desperate place, and from where I reside in San Jose, CA.  I'm in my prime, yet, quickly realizing that I'm nowhere near where I want to be in accumulating wealth.  They don't tell you how to plan for a bigger future in Engineering school, who knew?  Well, I must have missed that class, but I'm here now, and I thank you all in advance for all the help and guidance you offer.

Don't get me wrong, SJ is nice place to live, minus the expense, graffiti, and homeless problem.  My wife and I have built a modest economic future, hopefully one that will include a bambino/a or two in the near future, and we have all we need to keep ourselves...content.  That isn't the dream, however.  What I want is a wealth capable of giving back to more than my immediately family - I want to have a bigger part in helping those in need.  That's why I'm here, to figure out how to fill this void through real estate investing. 

Here's the catch...  Besides our current residence, a condo, I have no real estate investing background.  Thus, I'm investing my free time to being a real estate investing sponge, and looking for any opportunity to cull fear and galvanize persistence.  I know it will be hard, but I'm committed to adding one investment property this year, and grow exponentially from there.     

So, there you go.  Thank you for reading!  I look forward to interacting with all you successful people.  

[Ryan Landis]

@Ricardo Meza welcome to BP! As others have mentioned, soak up everything you can as you figure out what path you want to take in the investment process.

If you have not already, I would really try and take a look at how some of the Bay Area BPers make things work. There are some great threads on how to think about investing in the Bay (or somewhere else if that fits your goals).

Also, don't discount the learning experience you had in purchasing your condo. Although you might think about things differently this time around, you have a lot more experience than most people when it comes purchasing real estate.