Hey Shannon,
Welcome! First off this site is a wealth of information and I go through as much as you can before first deciding what type of investing you want to do (house hack, buy and hold, flip, multifamily, etc). Disclaimer: each one of these are DRASTICALLY different is risk tolerance, cash needed, and returns so do your homework!
I am fairly new to this myself, having purchased my first property about 2 years ago and just closed on property number 2 just a few weeks ago but I was immediately drawn to the buy and hold. I am married with 2 little kids so house hacking (while extremely financially attractive) was not an option for me so I went the conventional route. This decision was best for my families needs, however, requires a lot more upfront cash since it is considered an investment property and not a primary residence with your lender.
Step 1: talk with a lender and see what you are qualified for and go through the different options you are interested in doing (you may be limited here so good idea to find this out early). No one really wants to say this out loud, but your income needs to be very strong in order to do this well and still be in good shape financially. If your income is not $150k+ with zero consumer debt I would strongly advise you to wait until you get your financial house in order. Its ok to wait until you are ready!
Step 2: Find a real estate agent you like, knows the area well, and gets what you are trying to do (and see value in the partnership). They can help advise on areas they recommend and places that are "not so great".
Step 3: Start looking! Do NOT get set on one particular house/property! This draws in emotion, which leads to bad decisions in most cases. If you really liked a property but lost it, its ok there will be another one. Do not get attached ever! These are investment properties for your business, nothing more.
Step 4: Once your offer is accepted I would strongly encourage to find a great property manager (even if you are house hacking). They will do all the background check, income verifications, leasing agreements, and renewals (and keep you updated on things needing to be repaired). They can also be an amazing resource for what/if any areas of the property should be "updated" to bring in more rent. Some things are obvious, but not all and depend greatly on what else is available in the area.
Hope this helps! Last thing. For the first property I would be very conservative. Please don't try a big flipper project or multifamily right out of the gate. Learn everything you can with the first one and step up slowly. Good luck!
