Newbie from Richmond, Virginia

[Olawale Ogbonlowo]

Hey folks, 

I'm a newbie real estate investor living and working in the Richmond, Virginia area.  Over the last month, I began researching real estate investing which inevitably led me to the Bigger Pockets podcast and community.  Since then, I've consumed a lot of content on and off of BP.  I've listened to podcasts, purchased and read a few books, joined a few Meetups in my area and am learning at a quick pace.  During that time, I've also perused the forums picking up tips and information from the community that I believe have been pretty useful thus far. 

I want to make sure that I don't fall victim to analysis paralysis and so I have decided to reach out, speak up and get active on the forums - to learn and also, hopefully in time, contribute in a meaningful way.  I am interested in flipping single family homes and also buy and hold on multifamily properties but If I were to choose only one, it would be the latter.  My goal is to get my first property no later than end of Q1 2018.

For my immediate next steps I am 1) starting to write out clear goals on what I want to achieve and break it down into smaller steps. 2) I will be joining the Richmond REIA starting in January (December meeting is Christmas party and I'll be away). 3) Continued meetings with people in my current network that are involved in Real Estate Investing - Found out about a few by chance and have reached out. So far they include 2 Investors, 2 realtors, 1 contractor. I hope to find additional contacts by asking. 4) Continuing to analyze deals and get a good feel for the numbers and best localities to start investing.

A journey like this feels pretty scary for a newbie like myself, but I am hoping taking action based on my learnings and also the knowledge and experience of the BP community will help with my success.

Any advice or constructive criticism you have to offer is very welcome.