Starting Out

How do you start out in real estate investing?  Better yet, WHY should you start out in real estate investing?

I bought my first property 6 months after graduation (I am 25 now); a 3 unit in which my girlfriend and I lived in one of the units.  I would recommend every college grad to try to do the same.  I will bullet point my reasoning:

-You learn to love the 1st of the month instead of loath it.
-You get responsibility and business sense.
-Living rent free is awesome
-You can use equity (yes this word does still exist) to buy another property in a couple years

There will be a lot of difficult moments from finding the property through closing to tenant calls and maintenance problems. But I would not trade my first purchase for anything because, more than the above benefits, my first purchase showed me that I can own a rental property, I can make money from it and I can justify doing it again.  Starting out from college is the best time to start because you have nothing to lose and you don't have a lifestyle that you are accustomed to.  The hardest part is finding financing which I will touch on with later posts.