Newbie Introduction/General Info on My Interests in REI

[Benjamin Davis]

Hello All!

I'm Ben, new to real estate investing, currently living in Chicago, IL but originally from Milwaukee, WI.

My real estate interests stem from my overall ambition of achieving Financial Freedom.  I am currently working in Retail Management for an incredible company (consistently a Forbes top ten company to work for) but have been on the path to financial independence for a couple years now.  While I am aggressively contributing to my 401k and other market oriented investment vehicles, I have long thought of real estate as the second but equally necessary pillar in achieving my ambitions as it will provide ongoing cash flow as I work toward leaving my corporate position.

This being said, my interests in real estate are focused on buy and hold, residential properties, largely investigating SFR but I do not exclude the option of small multifamily should an opportunity present itself.

At the moment I am working toward saving capital as aggressively as possible, although for my comfort levels am probably another 12-18 months from having the capital I desire to get started, which I am comfortable with. I am rather conservative in the realm of real estate as I am not particularly interested in over-leveraging and am willing to put a little more skin in the game to mitigate my risk in some regards. In the meantime, I have been devouring BP podcasts, reading REI books, and now am working to network here on BP as I dip my toes in the water.

This community has left a great impression on me as there is seemingly endless knowledge available and I get a real sense of egalitarianism from experienced investors as they help us newbies navigate these initial stages.  Thanks in advance for welcoming me and I hope to get to know as many great folks on here as I can.  Any tips, books, courses for beginners etc are always welcome as I am approaching this wide-eyed and curious!