Newbie in greater Rochester, NY area

Hello BP! I am fresh out of the military and just relocated to the Rochester, NY area in the Finger Lakes region. I'm originally from Dallas, but moved here because the W-2 job opportunity worked out best in western NY. My wife and I are excited to be here!

I've been interested in real estate investing for several years, but didn't want to take the leap until life had settled down a bit (getting married, transitioning out of the Marine Corps, etc). I've been casually reading real estate/investment books over the last few years, and gotten more serious in the last few months. We decided to initially rent for our first year in NY while we get to know the new area before making a major decision. Initially we wanted to buy our own primary residence first, but after reading about real estate some more, I'm really wanting to get into house-hacking and over time building a portfolio of small multi-family residencies. Our current lease ends in April of 2020, which gives me a great tangible deadline to get to work!

In the BP community, I'm hoping to connect, meet people, learn, and hopefully bring some of my own experiences to the table to build mutually beneficial relationships and friendships.  I'm looking forward to meeting you!