Newbie here trying to make my first purchase

Hi, I'm a new in the REI field. I have not bought my first home yet. It seems to be so overwhelming at this time. I oversees working at the moment and just learning and educating myself as much as I can with books and podcast and so forth. I'm interested in holding rental properties. My goal is one day to hold enough units that bring in enough cash I can leave my full time job and become 100% REI. So the question I have what would be my best course of action buying my first property. By the time I come home I shall have between 50-70k of capital to purchase my first property. So far the research in my area I have concluded that most properties seem to be very high. I live in Southern Maryland zip 20619. I haven't really found any great reads on how to find and pick out a great deal. So if you have any input it would help me go a long way. By the way I'm a vet and I also have the VA as well if that matter at all. Thanks again for reading my post.