I agree that I just gotta do it but it IS money, and I’m not just gonna jump into something when theres a chance to lose it. I understand real estate is a risk just as much as any investment, but I want to minimize the risk by using my knowledge(or lack there of).
This is the reason I ask for the steps because I do not want to mess up and I want to make sure I got all the bases covered.
I am just so anxious that I feel like im tripping myself up and getting my self confused.
JP- advice from a fellow newbie who was in your spot two months ago:
don’t OVERTHINK. you’re crippling yourself.
you already know enough. go out and do a deal and you WILL make some mistakes in the process. it won’t ruin you though, in fact, you will surprise yourself at how much you’ve read on here will come in handy, and you will probably make a very good deal. but you can keep reading and researching and thinking and planning from now until the end of time, and you might never feel like you know enough.
trust me on this one, (i think you said you are 22). That was about the same time I started thinking about doing this. I am now 30, and I just did my first two deals this month. My biggest regret is that I waited. don’t do that to yourself. and don’t wait until you have larger responsibilities that can become excuses not to move forward. you are in a great position, so go out and get started. you don’t have to go buy an apartment complex, just start slow and learn something from each step in the process. you’ll be fine!
and by the way, when most of us were 22, we didn’t have this site as a resource, so you’re already a step ahead.
Haha Thanks man, I know I’m in a good spot. 21 actually 
I actually found a Carlton Sheets Program in my house, looks as if my dad wanted to do this a couple years ago. I think I’ll read through it just so I know the things well enough to get started within the next 2 months. It will happen, I have too many goals.
My goal is to make enough money doing Real Estate that it will allow me to invest in other industries.
This all will happen. Oh Yes it will.
HERE WE GO AGAIN ON THAT WHO PAYS THE REALTOR!!!
The buyer pays the realtor!! THE BUYER… The realtor can tell you anything they want if there was no realtor involved you would get a better deal on the house so by there being a realtor involved the seller will not lower the price because they need to net enough out of the BUYERS LOAN to pay the realtor. So it does show on the hud-1 that the seller pays but that is just a hud-1.
I think $cash$ put it best when he said " If you and I were on a road trip and I was filling the tank and handed you $20.00 to go pay when we got back who would you say paid for gas?"
We were close on our step by step I just
A. would find birddogs and others to help in the mix (not Realtors) NETWORK!!!
B. With how low interest rates are I would not use my own cash
c. Save the book money to market and save the time reading and start doing!
HOW HARD IS THIS REALLY? Everyone makes it harder then it needs to be!
JP,
I need to know all the steps, everything I should look for cause like I said, i can't do the 9-5 that much more and every day that goes by I feel is a day wasted in my real estate future.
That’s what you said yesterday and that’s the reason that I asked what you accomplished yesterday. You were correct, you did waste another day - yesterday! This is how many wannabes fail - by never getting started. However, I totally disagree with Cecix - I don’t think that you are ready to buy a property, but you certainly are ready to get started. Buying a property was step 9! I suggest starting with step 1.
In the step by step plan that I gave you, the very first step was to get the Carleton Sheets course and complete it.
I actually found a Carlton Sheets Program in my house, looks as if my dad wanted to do this a couple years ago. I think I'll read through it just so I know the things well enough to get started within the next 2 months. It will happen, I have too many goals.
That’s the difference between me and you. I wouldn’t say that “I think I’ll read through it…”, I would have stayed up half the night doing it!!! See the difference?
As you said, there is money at stake here, and if you don’t want to lose it - you better get educated BEFORE you start. I agree with the people that say JUST DO IT, but I think that you should start by JUST GETTING EDUCATED. This doesn’t take a motivated person very long - I completed the Carleton Sheets course and read a couple of other books in less than a week. I spent every spare waking minute doing it. Knowing that the vast majority of people who start in this business fail, I think that the education is mandatory!
This is the reason I ask for the steps because I do not want to mess up and I want to make sure I got all the bases covered.I am just so anxious that I feel like im tripping myself up and getting my self confused.
You have the steps and you have Carleton Sheets Course in your hand. IF the 9-5 is “killing you” and IF you are “so anxious” to get started, what are you waiting for?
WHAT WILL YOU ACCOMPLISH TODAY?
Mike
REO,
UH-OH, we’re dangerously close on agreeing again!!!
We were close on our step by step I justA. would find birddogs and others to help in the mix (not Realtors) NETWORK!!!
I agree with the bird-dogs and networking - that’s why I suggested joining the REIA. I like to use Realtors and think that you are losing many deals (REOs, for example) by not using them. Additionally, I don’t care what the realtor makes or the owner makes as long as I get a great deal. I only care what I make!
B. With how low interest rates are I would not use my own cash
I agree 100% with this one and that’s exactly what I said. If you use a line of credit or your own cash to buy the deal and then immediately refinance as I suggested, you ARE using borrowed money.
c. Save the book money to market and save the time reading and start doing!
Darn! I thought we were going to have complete agreement! Knowing that the majority of those that start any business fail, I think that it would be smart to get educated BEFORE doing a deal. Many newbies only take one shot and when they fail on their first deal, they never go back. I’m sure that both of us have purchased houses from down and out newbie landlords - they’re so disgusted that they will give you the house and throw in some cash just to stop the pain!
HOW HARD IS THIS REALLY? Everyone makes it harder then it needs to be!
I agree that REI isn’t hard, not at all. However, the majority still manage to fail. How many people have you seen that buy a rental at retail and then lose their rear? Also, you better have a plan to deal with tenants or they will EAT YOU ALIVE!
Mike
Hmmm…this is something I’d like to hear more about.
-Mike
Mike (allagash),
What I meant was that you need a plan for dealing with tenants. I could type so much about this subject that the website would lock up. However, until you become a landlord, you never know how many scumbags, liars, criminals, and losers there are in this country. I have had a complete change of attitude regarding the poor as a result of this experience and now believe that it is a total waste of time and money trying to stop poverty. It can NOT be stopped because most of the poor are simply LAZY, many are criminals, many abuse drugs and alcohol, and they have no desire to do better. I think that the government should immediately stop spending money on the poor (except my section 8 payments, of course). If you don’t believe me? - BECOME A LANDLORD!
Anyway, you need to have a system to deal with these people. How will you screen them and who will you accept? What will your lease say? VERY IMPORTANT! How will you handle late pays? When will you evict? What will you do when a tenant trashes your house? What will you do when your tenant doesn’t mow the grass? What do you do when a tenant moves out in the middle of the night and leaves their stuff? What will you do when the tenant is arrested for drugs in your house? What will you do when your tenant buys a vicous dog? How will you handle the never-ending list of sob stories? What will you do when the water is shut off for non-payment and the tenants are using the toilet in buckets in your house? What are they doing with the contents of those buckets? What will you do when the gas is shut off for non-payment during the middle of the winter? What will you do when junk cars start to pile up in the front yard? These are the issues that destroy newbies! I’ve seen it time and time again!
In addition to the people, how will you own the properties? In your name? In an LLC? Trust? Do you hold rentals of differing risks in different entities? How many properties do you hold in each entity - or do you hold all in one?
That’s are just a few of the issues I was talking about. You need to have some general plan for dealing with tenant issues before you jump in?
Mike
I read until 3 am last night through chapter 7 of the Sheets program. It’s great! There are still questions that i’m mustering up but thats what you are all for. So now I did NOT waste a day, everyday I learn more and more and prepare myself for a purchase taht I want to ahve done by my birthday(november 13th) thats my SHORT TERM goal.
I just have to pick a location, and a sublocation. Which I believe to be New Haven, CT. And Sub location being the downtown area in and around Yale.
I need to get my financing straight, such as finding a good lender, etc. Any recommendations?
I am also gonna start trying to subscribe to papers up in the New Haven area so i can get FSBO’s.
i would hope if he’s serious he’s already done most of your steps 1-8. your steps 1-8, in my book, don’t qualify as “getting started”. any chump can do those things, and should have done them immediately. i think jp has the knowledge he needs.
i mostly agree with your steps, aside from the realtor thing. i think realtors tend to slow down the process. i am working with a few realtors, and they are doing OK, but the best deals i’ve found so far, i found entirely on my own.
Cecix,
Everyone must start sometime. It sounds like JP started yesterday and I applaud him for that. He’s already gotten farther than most wannabes. However, most people never get the basic education they need in REI and therefore fail. It’s just that simple.
As you see on this site and will see at just about every REIA meeting or REI seminar that you attend, the majority are newbies and there are a different group of newbies every time. Many people WANT to be RE investors but very few will succeed. Seminar presenters know this. They give their presentations and get people to line up to buy their $1,000+ packages, but many will never open them; even fewer will complete them; and only perhaps 5% will ever do a single deal. Of those that do a deal, only a small percentage ever do more than 5 deals. Then, only a few of these people will ever be able to go “full time”. That’s probably 1% of wannabes that ever make it.
Just look at this board. Besides the site moderators, how many people here are full-time?
Mike
Not all of the Moderators are fulltime – it just feels that way!!!
:eyecrazy:
Keith
Oh I won’t back down, I will succeed and I will be a millionaire by the age of 30. 9 years from now, 9 years is a lot of time I feel to get there, hopefully I can do it sooner.
I do agree though, I have to just jump in soon. No better way to learn then actually work hands on with a home. Kind of like interning or apprenticing, the only thing different is ITS FOR REAL. I just hope I dont jump in the wrong way.
My next stage I feel is going to be screening homes.
Question: Does it matter how much my first home is? Should it be 100-200k? 200-300k? 300-400k? 400k+?
Thanks again
There ya go thinking inside the box again JP! The amount of the house only matters when considering the market and how much below retail your paying for the property.
the best place to start is probably your lower middle class houses. If you go too low it may be hard to sell or rent due to competion and saturation of the market. Go to high and you risk running into a very limmited and very picky market.
As to the actual amounts that will be determined by your market and what you can be aproved for.
Good Luck!