I am located in Ohio and like many people I have researched and read about, tired of the 9-5 grind and putting money into someone else's pockets. 

If you don’t care about maximizing loan amount then you could start whenever.

I have purchased the following books:ABCs of Buying Rental Property The ABCs of Property Management The ABCs of Real Estate Investing The Advanced Guide to Real Estate InvestingThe Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money DownWhat order do you recommend reading them in?

Does anyone know of a blog I could read or possibly a podcast I could listen to each morning that gives me a simple update on daily market trends?

It sounds like you’ve been doing some serious groundwork with all the reading and research, which is such a strong start to your journey toward FI and retiring by 55.It’s awesome that you’re exploring real estate as an option, even if you’re not completely sold on being a landlord yet.

My name's Cody, I have been listening to the podcast for years, and I've read all the books.

Most land bank properties, Detroit or Wayne County, are trainwrecks and cost more to rehab than they are worth - unless the market keeps improving.Be careful on the next one, but keep improving Detroit!

@Brett Coultas if you're a newbie, you want to be careful of an "investor friendly" agent selling you something they truly don't understand:(95+% of agents only know how to handle owner-occupied transactions - you can verify this by asking them calculate ROI for you or Cash-On-Cash!

She read 2 books, "Retire with Real Estate" and "Set for Life".

After that I would read every single book on fixing up properties that you can find, and how to find off market properties and then start implementing those strategies.