New Investor from Emeryville CA looking to invest somewhere else!

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Hey everyone, my name is Chuck and I recently moved to Emeryville, CA from Philadelphia, PA. I'm originally from the small town of Williamstown, NJ (South Jersey).

I work in Corporate Finance in San Francisco after spending the first 5 years of my career doing similar work back in Philadelphia.

I'm brand new to the Real Estate world so I won't have much to offer anyone yet, but I'll get there! My initial goal is to invest in one property (for cash flow) by the end of 2017. I discovered Bigger Pockets around the same time that I decided to take more control over my investments, rather than strictly investing in index funds, to help reach my financial goals faster.

My longer term goal, which is probably similar to many others here, is to create a portfolio of RE investments that can cover my living expenses.

If anyone is in Emeryville or Berkeley feel free to say hello! I enjoy meeting new people so it would be fantastic to connect with folks from Bigger Pockets. We will certainly have at least one common interest, Real Estate, but maybe there will be more.

A few other facts about me:

1.I am very interested in health/fitness

2.My wife is an engineer and part-time nutrition consultant (much more intelligent than me)

3.Provide volunteer tax assistance for low income individuals & families

4.Deleted all social media accounts last year and haven't regretted it

5.Traveled to 14 countries last year during 5 month trip, also have road-tripped across US visiting National Parks

Lastly, for my initial investment, I'm considering 

• Philadelphia (city I'm most familiar with)
• Tampa - have an Aunt who lives down there in Ellenton, FL and has 7 RE investments in this area.  She and her husband do all of the property management themselves and have done very well over the past 10 years with RE.  She recommended Fort Myers to me as a city that has a lot of room left to grow.
• Nashville - have a different Aunt who rents out 2 properties in the Greater Nashville area.  She lives in Franklin, TN
• South Jersey - Where I grew up.  My brother owns his home in Glassboro, NJ which may grow as Rowan University expands.  My father teaches at Rowan so I'm familar with that area too.  If anyone invests there please let me know, I'd love to chat.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post, and looking forward to becoming part of the community here.

Chuck