Longtime lurker ready to join the BP Community

Hi everyone! I have been lurking for over a year and I am very excited to be making my first post. I currently live in Portland, Oregon where I bought my first home last April (I wish I had known then what I do now). I  essentially grew up in a very small real estate office in Cooperstown, NY (my mom's business) and absolutely love the energy surrounding real estate. I got my license in New York when I was 18, but I never did much with it (I guess I wasn't ready). Fast forward 12 years and I am currently in the process of getting my Oregon Real Estate License and will hopefully be done sometime in November. I spend most of my free time learning about buy and hold investing and plan to get my first deal under my belt in early 2016. I have listened to all of the podcasts, read many of the blog posts as well as the UBG (in addition to several non BP real estate books). With the market entry becoming so high in Portland I am planning to invest back east and I am constantly researching the markets in Waterbury, VT and Buffalo, NY, both places where I have strong family/friend connections. I look forward to getting know other BP members and continuing my learning process. 

Todd