newbie alert! from San Jose

[Michael Arreola]

Hello bp,

So I just listened to another awesome BP podcast encouraging me to finally write this post so here goes!

I have to admit it is very overwhelming to first get started in real estate inventing if you do not have a clear direction on where it is you want to go. I believe buy and holds is the right area of real estate for me because cash flow is king. 

I'm trying my best to educate myself in the market of the south bay area and even other markets in my area. But without over analyzing the situation my main goal is to better educate myself in real estate as a whole and everything else that comes with it. I'm scheduled to take several accounting classes and doing lots of webinars to help get me up to speed.

I am already a home owner and I'm house hacking in the south bay area (San Jose). So I have access to my HELOC but I need to know everything about what I'm getting myself into before jumping the gun.

So my questions if you choose to answer....

What areas of real estate should a newbie stick to and is there any areas that should be avoided?

What is the best way to set up business entities or should I even worry about that right now?

What other tools are available to analyze my local and other markets? 

I am currently reading Think an Grow Rich and it is blowing my mind. If anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them.

Thank you of reading my post and happy house hunting to all.

Michael Arreola