I joined the community about a week ago and have been going through the forums, articles and beginner's guide absorbing as much information as possible.

Fill in the foundation below.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

Instead I purchased Real Estate Investing for Beginners and downloaded BiggerPocket's ultimate guide.

You should pick up a book called "The Complete Guide To Buying And Selling Apartment Buildings" by Steve Berges.

Here are a few recommendations for you:Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts Read Beginner’s Guide http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing and check out BP Podcast.

Time to build the foundation below.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

Local real estate markets are always changing so using that as a guide is kind of short sighted.

If you haven't yet, be sure to check out the The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing and The BiggerPockets Podcast.

The other strategies you talked about work... but for me, I know at your stage, I would have needed a mentor to guide me through doing that.

I read The Real Estate Agent’s Ultimate Guide to Working with Investors and saw an opportunity, so I got my brokers license.