New to Real Estate Investing and Going to 2019 BP Conference!

[Michelle Cernansky]

I live in Torrance, CA and would love to invest in buy-and-hold near here, but housing prices are so high in Southern California and I'm not comfortable with jumping into investing here with no experience yet. This has steered me to look out of state for investing. Particularly in East Tennessee (Oak Ridge or Knoxville) where I know people who live there so I would have "boots on the ground."

This made it a no brainer to go to the Bigger Pockets Conference in Nashville, and I was hoping to get some advice on which seminars would be most beneficial as a newbie. I started listening to the Bigger Pockets podcasts a couple months ago and hope to read the following books before the conference: The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and low) Money Down, The Book on Flipping Houses, The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs,and Long Distance Real Estate Investing. 

Also, if there's anyone in or near Torrance who is attending the conference, please let me know! I would love to meet for lunch beforehand!

Thank you!