Newbie intro and pitfalls to avoid?

[Eva Meyer]

Hi everyone - I am a newbie and just joined the community yesterday. My financial advisor recommended that I look into real estate investing to help diversify my portfolio. I'm going to spend a lot of time on the boards and on the website doing research and can't wait to learn from you all. I live in Virginia and am interested in purchasing a property and renting it out (possibly going the Airbnb or VRBO route). I'm undecided on location and whether it would be a short or long term hold.

Are there any common pitfalls that newbies make that I should be aware of? Any investing mistakes that you've made that you wish you could have avoided?

Thanks, and I look forward to meeting everyone!