Getting Started with Real Estate Investing

General Real Estate Investing
1

Hi,

I am new to this site and I am interested in finding out as to how I can find out more about real estate investing. I have read a few books on the subject and I have studied Dolf DeRoos course on real estate investing, but at the moment I am still kind of on the confused side.

One of the things that I am really confusd about is as to how a person can get information about a particular property and it’s owners so that you can develop the right approach when contacting the owners of the property and in negotiating the best deal with them.

I have read Robert Shemin’s book ‘Secrets of buying and selling real estate… Without using your own money’ and while the book was pretty interesting it was also kind of on the confusing side.

One of the stories that he mentioned in the book was that of a real estate investor/developer that was trying to obtain a particular piece of property, but the person that he was trying to buy from was not interested in selling for finanical reasons because he was already rich. The savvy investor/developer somehow got information on the guy and found out that he did not have any sons in which to pass on his family name, only daughters. As a result he managed to negotiate a deal with the guy that allowed him to get the property as long as he named the property after the guy.

I’m not really sure as to how to do this as I don’t really know much about private investigation or even as to how anyone could be able to get information like that. I do know however that money is not always the motivator and as a result I would like to find out as to how to find out what really motivates people like that.

2

With all due respect,you might be complicating matters by over thinking the process. As a seller, were I to find out that you had been researching my personal life, I can assure you I would show you the door.
That said, the way to get the information you deem necessary is to start a conversation with the homeowner. Talk first about anything but the deal itself. You’ll be surprised at what you can find out.

3

It sounds like you’re wanting to look at For Sale By Owner homes or ones where you’re contacting home owners who don’t have their homes currently for sale. With the flood of homes one the market including many REOs, why don’t you start there? You won’t have to worry about what to say to the owners because you’ll be talking to Realtors instead.
Are you looking to try to make a deal on a house before it’s foreclosed upon?
If you’re looking for more information about REI, just find the forums on this site that interest you and read all the posts from the oldest threads up thru the current ones. You’ll learn a ton and it will be from people who are actually doing REI vs. people selling information.

4

Those are both good ideas and I intend to study the issue further. Creating rapport is always a good idea, but if you don’t understand your market then there is no way that you are or will be effective in creating rapport with them at all.

According to psychology people tend to like people who are similar to themselves and according to people like Robert Bly and even according to evolutionary psychology people tend to think about what is in it for them and that is the purpose of doing your research ahead of time on any prospective property that you might possibly be interested in buying.

Another thing that is well known or at least should be well known is that people don’t tend to buy based upon logic, but rather emotion instead and the better that you are able to not only create rapport with somone, but to also tailor your offer to meet both your needs and the needs of the other party then your chances for success greatly expand.

5

See, it still sounds like you want to go the route of trying to help homeowners who are in trouble financially by trying to make a deal beneficial to both parties. In that case, I agree developing rapport with the seller would be to your advantage. It would be better for you to be seen as a solution to their problem rather than a vulture trying to take what you can from them.
By buying houses using my Realtor, I only care to have a good rapport with him. I don’t care what the sellers think of me; I’m not talking to them.
Regarding logic and emotion:
Many non-investors probably do buy based on emotions. As an investor, I don’t look at houses and think “oh, I like the way that looks.” I say, “the numbers look good on this house - it should make me some money.”

6

Creating rapport with a seller is a major factor to success in
the Creative Real Estate World!

If you’re just buying, renting, selling, rapport is not that big
of an issue.

However when it comes to creative deal structuring, you
must do everything you can to create rapport with the seller,
buyer, and everyone else involved.

99% of the time, my staff negotiates deals on the phone, and
they only meet with the seller to get a contract signed.

We only hire people who sound very friendly, cordial, kind, and
soft spoken on the phone. About 40-50% of our clients; sellers,
buyers, investors, comment on our employees kindness, etc.

My point is that as long as you come across as sincere and caring,
you automatically build rapport with your prospect…

Back to your original question:

“I am new to this site and I am interested in finding out as to how I can find out more about real estate investing.”

You can simply start on these boards.

Read as much as you can.

Pick 1 or 2 techniques that interest you and start taking ACTION!

Don’t get caught up in the cycle of simply reading and reading and reading, you must buckle down
and actually start to take action on some of the knowledge you have accumulated.

There’s a lot of people on these boards that will help you if you run across a problem or issue…

7

Again, you are overthinking this process to the point where you have Paralysis of Analysis.
“According to psychology. . .” What?! Put the books down and start talking with some homeowners. If not, you’ll be brilliant. . .but poor.