I want to hear others’ opinions on the best way for beginners to get into real estate. Should we be birddogging, contract flipping, or should we take the plunge and go straight for the rehabs or sub2 properties? I would also like to hear personal stories about how eveyone on the board got into the biz.
i thik everyones situation is different. if you want the quick risky buck go for the rehabs and what not. if you want slow long term steady growth go for multi family investments to hold on to
My opinion for all noobs is to start by learning to wholesale properties. Skip bird dogging since to be a good bird dog requires you to have all the same knowledge that a wholesaler has. Then you can make $2,000-$5,000 per deal.
This will get you cash in hand to ‘carry’ properties for a few months on rehabs or for a few years if looking for cash flow.
By wholesaling properties you will learn to do ALL the variety of deals… sub2, short sales, rehabs, L/O. the only difference is that you lock it up with a contract and then charge someone an assignment fee to sign the deal over to them to carry out.
Read through the various freebie books (ebooks) available on this site… Pick up a couple of well recommended books relating to the subject of your choice, but the key is while you’re reading it and you have questions post them here so you can gain a better understanding…
Hey Drew,
What area of Austin are you looking at? I am mostly in the Round Rock/Hutto/Pflugerville area, but may expand as the business increases. Maybe we can meet for lunch to discuss REI.
BTW, I agree that wholesaling is the easiest and best way into the business. First, create a buyer’s list and get to know what each buyer’s preferences are (location, property characteristics, exit strategy, and so on). Next, get any required financing in place (you never know when a buyer may back out and you will have to close on the property). Third, market yourself. Fourth, START MAKING OFFERS!
I’m in the “start making offers” stage, and have submitted offers on 6 HUD/REO’s. Two were flat out rejected, one was ‘not considered’ because I was outbid, and the other two are still being considered.
As another investor told me, until you are making offers, you haven’t really done anything yet.
START MAKING OFFERS! ;D
Regards,
Stephen
Stephen,
Can you share with us your techniques for generating your buyers list as well as marketing?
My buyer’s list has mainly been through newspaper ads, “Greensheet” ads, and bandit signs. I must admit that I haven’t really networked much at the local REI clubs, but that is probably one of the best places to find buyers.
As far as marketing goes, I am still at the beginning myself. I will be ordering biz cards, vehicle signs, bandit signs, and start posting an ad in the local “Greensheet” very soon. I also have a RE agent I work with that can give me referrals. There are a lot of other marketing techniques I’ll use later, like grocery store receipts, restaurant placemats, taxi cabs, buses, benches, etc - just too many ways to list.
Regards,
Stephen