Attend seminars, join online forums, and read up on the latest market trends to stay informed.Remember, real estate investing is not without its challenges.

Everything around the lot is older but the neighborhood is less than 5 minutes away from downtown, hospital and colleges. see this all the time in and around downtown columbus OH, we have frindge areas that are getting rehabbed and flipped like crazy and then the new builds come in. 

Attend meet-ups.

A great way to start is by attending RE events and joining a local investors association.

Most people can't afford that hit to their income.I recommend the two college towns, Tuscaloosa and Auburn, as having affordable houses, high rents, stable tenant supply, a number of very good management companies and landlord-friendly courts.

This is in a town that has a very good Private College - Baylor University.

Unfortunately, and maybe I just hit a couple of bad apples, or timing, more, the investment was not returning, tenants were not staying, the majority owners had bigger Fish to Fry so weren’t monitoring and attending to small issues, which then turned into nightmares.

The great thing about living in a high cost of living area is that your salary / wages are hopefully also very high.If you are a new college grad, I would focus the next 1-3 years on increasing your salary as much as possible(gain new skills, new certifications, change employers, etc).Once you make more money, you can easily get in a position to buy a property on a more frequent basis.Best of luck!

Areas near downtown Ventura or the college (Ventura College) are worth exploring for strong tenant demand.

At least one of the coach's calls I did attend the, Rick Boyd, spent the whole trying to comp one property for a beginning student.