Good Evening Bigger Pockets, I have been looking to get out of the fitness industry and into the real estate industry for about a year now.  

Im very new to this industry I have 0 experience but willing to learn , Im wondering whats the direction I should go to start building a proper foundation for the forthcoming  of this business seminars, programs, books , networking etc. ?

I see and use Forums like this, and others, as an opportunity to collaborate with and expand upon a pre-existing formal knowledge of the Industry or strategy...not as a starting point into an industry.

I notice that the farther you branch out you run into smaller towns that don't have as much industry, stable jobs, etc.. meaning the rental market also is even lower than where I am at, therefore rendering the same situation in ratio. 

@Ben Leybovich   funny Ben ... but look at the direct marketing piece's that go out those are dumbed down and made to look like some joe blow sent them..So punctuation and grammar may be important in some business environments.. buying real estate especially new folks trying to  wholesale or buy some buy and holds it certainly is not..if it was not for spell check you would be ringing me up as a poor business man with no hope in the industry !!

Since origination, REIA-NCI has grown to include not just landlords, but also rehabbers, wholesalers, commercial real estate investors, contractors, vendors, and service providers who cater to the real estate investing industry.

Speak with some of the folk in the industry who participate here at BP.  

If you simply didn't express the true feelings and emotions you've been experiencing regarding this matter, and you've been feeling a strong pulling to this industry, then I think you already know the answer to your question. 

All are invited.This is a night of PURE networking for the industry people connected through Bigger Pockets.

A little bit about myself for anyone interested:I'm looking to be a buy-and-hold investor while continuing my regular job - I am looking to put money to work and would be potentially interested in doing so as part of someone else's deal; I would consider both SFR and MFR deals.I am an investor in my day job (currently private equity / buyouts, soon to become public equities) so may have some bad habits, or at least industry-specific ones, to break; I generally anticipate being relatively analytical / systematic in looking at dealsMy family held a few properties when I was growing up - I have experience personally doing refurbishing work and secondhand experience with property management activities (this will hopefully help me as contextual information, I don't anticipate taking on an active role in refurb or property management in the near future)Right now, I am trying to educate myself on the process of deal sourcing (MLS, wholesaler buyer lists, etc.) and market data sources; in particular, I would really appreciate any input on good sources for publicly available market-level data in manipulable format such as Excel or .csv as well as input from anyone who uses a systematic deal-screening approach both on their criteria and how they get reliable / quality data into a screening-friendly formatThanks for everything people have already contributed.