Newbie from Dayton, Ohio

[Mark Brauer]

Hello, I'm Mark!  As the subject states, I'm currently residing in the greater Dayton, Ohio area.  I was stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB for a few years, retired from the Air Force and decided to stick around the area.  I'm 38 and a father of two boys (9 & 6).  I work full time as a Senior Technical Writer and trainer at O'Neil & Associates.

I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to real estate, but a quick learner.  I do own a rental property in Hampton, Virginia, but that was due to an Air Force move and it wasn't a good time to sell.  I've had tenants occupying it since 2009 and I about break even on the property.

My goals for investing are to do as much as I can part time, and hopefully, one day...soon, I can transition into it full time. At the moment I'm in learn/sponge mode. I'm trying to absorb as much as I can to learn and better prepare myself for my first purchase. I figured the winter time would be a great time to read up and research with a goal to purchase my first property come Feb/Mar. Honestly, I'm getting a bit antsy and might pull the trigger on my first purchase sooner. Other than learning, I'm networking, looking for investors (aren't we all?) to fund projects and setting up some of the preliminaries (I have my LLC!)

I look forward to hearing from others, especially those who are local to Ohio.  This forum appears to provide a vast wealth of knowledge and I hope to be an active participant.  Don't hesitate to shoot me an IM.  Thanks for reading!