Newbie From Alexandria, VA

[Travis Bresnahan]

Hey everyone,

My name is Travis Bresnahan and I am in my final semester of university studying computer science with a focus in cyber forensics, policy, and law. 

I'm very new to the real estate world, if I can even say that, as I'm still in the beginnings of learning stage. Currently I am reading "Building Wealth One House At A Time" by John W. Schaub and also have "Buy It, Rent It, Profit!" by Bryan M. Chavis, "Real Estate Investing 101" by Michele Cagan, and lastly "Home Buying and Selling" by Eric Tyson & Ray Brown. Trying to absorb all this new information on top of classes is a struggle at times and unfortunately learning more about real estate is being seated on the back burner behind my courses. 

My main knowledge goals are to gain a very structured understanding of the real estate world including markets, negotiations, rental properties, and house hacking. I'd say my personal goals are to network with more people who are involved in the real estate world and learn as much as possible from those who have been there and done it. When I am passionate about something I typically go all in %200 with full focus and dedication so finding people to help me learn and grow would be an invaluable asset. 

I hope I get to meet and talk to more of you as time goes by! Thanks!

[Kevin Dean]

@Travis Bresnahan

Thanks for introducing yourself. I am also from Northern Virginia and work in DC. It sounds like you are doing exactly the right things right now to hit the ground running when you graduate. Keep educating yourself, surrounding yourself with good people and start saving as much money as you can (not that you need a ton to get started investing in RE). Saving up that money will give you more options to take risk in a number of ways.

There are a ton of Meetups in the Northern Virginia and Washington, DC area. I would encourage you to attend as many as you possibly can while in college. Life may seem busy right now in college, but it gets even busier once you have a full-time job. If you can start building as many relationships as possible through attending these meetups, you will start moving in the right direction faster than you may expect.

I would throw out some meetups, but I would just download the  Meetup App, and then search for Real Estate in the NOVA/DC/Maryland Area, you will find a ton. If you are off at school somewhere else, it will still be useful to search for Meetups in that area. The skill of networking effectively needs to be learned and you will get more comfortable in these situations the more you attend.