Hi Bigger Pockets!

My name is Chris, and I'm brand new to the real estate investing landscape. I found my way to the site through a handful of bloggers in the financial independence/early retirement community. I've been listening to the BP Podcast on my commute for the past few weeks and have managed to learn a good deal already-- There's quite an impressive community and wealth of information here!

Coming from the FI motivation, I'm looking for a way to build enough semi-passive income over the next few years to cover my living expenses, and I'm currently hoping to accomplish this by assembling a buy-and-hold portfolio of single and small multifamily rentals. While I'm open to local opportunities, the Bay Area at first glance seems a bit competitive for me with my full-time job in technology and somewhat modest amount of income earmarked for a first acquisition, and I suspect there might be clearer opportunities for solid cash flow elsewhere. I'm beginning to research out-of-state investing, mostly focusing on turnkey opportunities in larger cities in the midwest (Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati in particular), where I have a good core of friends and family.

In my free time, I enjoy outdoors activities (backpacking, rock climbing, mountaineering), international travel, language learning, and reading.

I look forward to learning a good deal here and to contributing what I can to the community!