I'm 23, been working my first full time job out of college for 8 months. How can I use ~5k to break into real estate investment and start gaining some experience? I've been doing on-and-off research for about a year ...

I've been interested in real estate for as long as I can remember but with the recent occurrence of a milestone birthday, I felt now was the time, finally, to take a serious leap into the field.

For several  properties  at a company  I  work for in Des moines/ Kent area , I enjoy my field of work dont get me wrong but the cash flow and financial  freedom  will never match that of a property  owner.I'm  not saying I'm trying to get rich or retire in the next year or so.

I think that is an excellent idea, and I’m going to research different trade that would fit and also fields in the military!

I think shadowing someone who is in the real estate field is going to be a must for me.

You need some education specific to your product or field, yes.Imho more important is that you need the right personality for sales.

I moving to Boise in June to support my wife through her rotations in medical school.

My main focus since then has been growing in my career field which took much longer than I anticipated.  

I have always been of the mind that knowledge is power so I try to absorb as much of it from as many different sources as possible, and since experience is the best teacher those of you who have been in this field already have likely seen many potential issues I may come across.I look forward to connecting, chatting, and possibly meeting some of you. 

A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.