There are so many different books and DVDs out there that I can’t possibly decide what would be the best bang for my buck. I know I can find deals on ebay, but I don’t even know what I should be looking for.
What do you guys recommend? I want something that is as comprehenisive as possible and that will also help guide me through my first deal in a step by step sort of way.
Try to get the Carlton Sheets course cheap on E-Bay…it is a decent ‘basic training’. It will give you a starting point. I paid $40 for mine and it was still in the wrapper…(the plastic wrapper, not the Snoop Dog rappper!)…
Carlton Sheet´s course looks like an interesting sugestion, but isn´t Allen´s Nothing Down a decent substitute for the first ? Although all the negative opinions by the experts, Allen´s book do have some useful ideas. For a student already owning Nothing Down, buying Carlton´s course makes sense?
Before you get Carlton Sheets, you might want to take a look at this one: http://www.intellibiz.com/realty/ I came across it in a web search. I am pretty new at this, too, so I’m still doing some homework and getting opinions, but it looks pretty good and seems to be reputable.
Carlton Sheets is a good basic course. He goes into a lot of no money down techniques that are good for beginners with no money/credit; bird dogging, assumptions, lease- purchase, assignments, etc. He also talks about the two “real businesses” that are done in real estate. Buy hold and rent (renting), versus buy fix up and sell (flipping). You need to determine what your business strategy is going to be by listening to his course. After you decide which business you will be in, find a real estate investor club in your area and get them to mentor you. Each area is different, that is the one weakness that Carton Sheets’ course has. They can’t tell you if it makes since to buy a $50k house on Crane street versus a $50k house on Louetta street. They are not in your town and location is important. I can tell you, my father had rental property all the time I was growing up. I helped him with them, and I understood real estate from being a landlord when I lived in Virginia. I have an MBA and never knew exactly how to make money in real estate in Houston until I joined the 2 investor groups that I have joined and started to talk to the people that were doing it. The course is fine to get you started, but the people you meet at these meetings will make you rich.