A REAL Real Estate Investing Guide

I been spending the past couple of months trying to learn every strategy to do real estate deals. What I have found is there is a lot of information out there, but every little substance. You have to read 100 pages of why it is so great and you’ll make SO much money before you get to anything. :banghead When you get to substance, it is basically a long story about some deal they did where you have to pick out the specifics.

I am an engineer by study and a consultant by trade. I have never had such a hard time finding a clear, informational instruction guide on this stuff.

What I want:
A clear guide is structured like a matrix with two parts: Aquisition and Disposal.
Aquisition:
For each type of property or deal = the different types of aquisition.
For example:
SFH SBO, A+ condition, class C neighborhood
=aquisition types: Owner financing, subject to, option.
Then you drill down to option.
Say this to to the seller. Then fill out this form. Etc etc

Nonething about structuring deals in real estate is difficult. It is just a big web of information that no one has organized in a clear and concise way.

If anyone knows any material out there like this, please let me know. If not Mr. Guru, MAKE ONE and you can make a killing out of selling something with some actual substance! :help

There are probably hundreds or thousands of real estate strategies, including many that don’t involve owning property. You’ve set yourself up for failure if you try to “…learn every strategy to do real estate deals.” You’ve also defined how you want the information presented to you. Good luck. Is there any room for compromise here?

Aside from meeting like-minded investors at your local real estate club, which would probably be your best and cheapest bet, there are a number of sources for strategies.

Bruce Norris is probably the most respected real estate investor and educator in Southern California and one of the few “gurus” I respect. You can look his track record up elsewhere, but he offers a course defining his various buying systems that might interest you. These change depending upon the economy and real estate cycle and his course shows how to identify the appropriate strategy.

Unfortunately, he labels his courses “California Only” so it might not be for you (I don’t know where you’re located). This tends to be specific to the forms he uses and less so for the strategies, so the course might work for you anyway.

Here’s a link to his website: http://www.thenorrisgroup.com/
And here’s a link the course: http://www.thenorrisgroup.com/Training/Products/BS_PDF.pdf

You can call his office to see if any of it would make sense for you and also to ask for references. His material occasionally comes up on ebay but it normally doesn’t go cheap. If you’re patient, you might get lucky.

As an aside, I recommend his radio show. You can download the mp3’s from his website.

Derek,

You are making this WAY TOO COMPLICATED! Real estate investing is not brain surgery (or even engineering). My degree is in engineering also and I can tell you for an absolute certainty that learning real estate investing is not nearly as difficult as differential equations!

Most SUCCESSFUL real estate investors are running a real estate business. That means that the disposal part of the business is already predetermined. For example, I’m in the rental property business. When I buy a property, I know that I’m going to rent it. No matrix needed for that.

The same is true for the acquisition. Properties that are to be used for rentals will only typically cash flow if they are purchased at a minimum 30% discount to market value (less repairs). So, the business you’re in dictates the parameters you must meet to be profitable. No matrix needed for that either.

So, the only thing that’s left is how to buy the property. Do I want to use bank financing, buy it subject to the existing financing, buy it via lease option, with owner financing? Again, the deal again often dictates how I proceed. If a private seller is DESPERATE, I can dictate whatever terms I like and the seller will have no choice but to comply. So, all I need to do is determine which method is best for me (lowest interest rate/best terms). If the seller is a bank, I’ll normally pay cash and refi later, or use a bank loan.

So, you see, real estate investing is not so complicated after all. Write a short business plan detailing what you want to do and then follow it. No guru matrix needed!

Mike

Derek,

If you are looking for a system model for real estate, it looks like this.

                       `Acquire --> Hold --> Dispose`
                                `  ^             |`
                                `  |_____________|`
                                `      Feedback      `

Every real estate investing strategy follows this model. You buy something, you hold something, and you sell something.

There are many ways to acquire property and just as many ways to dispose of property. Between acquisition and disposition, you are holding property. You need to know what you will do with the property while you are holding it.

At the end you figure out what worked, what did not work, and what can be improved, then change your methods for the next deal.

Rather than compiling an encyclopedia of real estate investing techniques, why not focus on just one that you feel most comfortable with. Learn everything there is to learn about that one technique while doing some deals. When you have mastered your first technique, then master another and add it to your repertoire.

That stuff kicked my A** and is probably the reason I’m not an engineer. I just couldn’t grasp it.