I’m new to real estate investing and never made my first deal yet but i was wondering how you guys made your first deal and how to find a mentor? I’v been searching the internet everywhere and most of it is just a bunch of scams. I really want to start learning but i feel someone guiding me would help out a lot. If anyone could help please pm me, thanks.
There are a lot of us whose first deal was done (nearly) back in biblical times, but the more important question might be what types of deals are working in today’s market place. If I were just starting out, this would be my short list of types of deals I’d be looking to close:
- long term sandwich lease purchases on homes, townhomes, and condos under $250k;
- ‘subject to’ deals;
- Mobile Home and Land Packages (the home, land, utilities installed are far less than the value when all put together as a package);
- cheap mobile homes to buy at huge discounts for cash and re-sell with private owner financing at full retail.
Oddly enough, the majority of the nearly 400 transactions which I’ve done since 1991 consist of he above 4 items. These are still working successfully in today’s unusual marketplace.
Keeping our deals small will help in preventing you from making a mistake which will break your entire business model…keep things small and remember the cheaper the home, the more potential market you have to re-sell…there are far more families who can afford a $300 monthly payment for a cheap house than a $3000 payment in a yuppie neighborhood.
Hope this helps.
Rob
Rob in Atlanta is certainly correct with regard to the suggestions he made. I would add that each geographic area is different, so your decision should be made on the basis of what works best where you invest as well as your personal interests.
But your question was in regards to finding a mentor. One that I’m familiar with is Cory Sperber in Phoenix, but he/his group is very expensive. I think you get your money’s worth from him, but you have to be extremely dedicated to making your business work before you’d take-on that sort of financial commitment.
Better yet, start by reading my book which I published on this very site starting back in January of this year. The title is “Psssst: Wanna Be A Real Estate Millionaire?” You’ll have to go back 5 or 6 pages on this site to find the start. I published it one chapter per day starting in January and there are 22 chapters; one of which was so long I had to publish it in two (2) sections: A and B. Note “B” got several comments so it is not in exact chronological order with the rest of the book. You’ll have to look forward closer to February to find it.
My second reco would be to join a local Real Estate Investment Club in your area. Elsewhere on this site, you’ll find listings of these groups throughout the USA. You might meet experienced real estate investors at their meetings that would be willing to work with you as a mentor.
Good luck in your real estate investing endeavors!
Search in your local areas, and make a complete informative list of skilled real estate mentors or agents. After that get all the complete details about all the real estate mentors that you had jotted.
Look at their skills, because it is believed and to be proven also that a skilled mentors will provide all the basic knowledge and help you in your best earning.
All the best.
I started off with a local agent and then moved on to working with a bigger company. Local agent can be your best bet. If you can find the one with decent inventory, go for it.
To be honest with you, I have seen a lot of posts that express the disappointment that can come from a paid mentor. You have to be really careful here. There are quite a few out there that just take your money, throw you a few impractical tips and set you lose.
On the other hand, if you get your real estate license and then work with a reputable agency, you will get a lot of hands on training - and get paid to get it.
Here is another option: Let the team here in REI be your mentor. This forum is full of seasoned investors who are willing to give good sound investment advice. If you got questions - someone here will have the answers.
If you’re new your best bet is going to be to self educate yourself at first. Yes online there are plenty of scams, but there are also a lot that are not scams. So you need to be able to distinguish what is a scam and what is not a scam.
The way I started:
I found an online wholesaling program as I went through the training I completed the necessary steps. You would be surprised what happen.
I completed a deal. It’s pretty simple but your main problem is gonna be taking action.
Find a program go through it and apply what you learn is the only way. Don’t go looking for another program.
You can accomplish a lot without paying for a mentor because any mentor is gonna either cost a few thousand or you’re gonna be doing a lot of busy work for a portion of the profit.
Decide what kind of investor you want to be and start taking that first step.
You don’t have to pay someone to mentor you, just birddog properties for them.
I had a house that we were completing the make ready on and I had an ad for a tenant in the Greensheet and a sign in the front yard. A lady called and said that she could tell from the ad that I was an investor. She asked me if I would show her what I do. I said of course. I showed he what i do how i do it and gave her some of my contacts to get her started.
I suggest you try that. Look for a for rent ad and call them. You don’t want some guy trying to rent his starter home (unless that is what you are looking for) find someone that is buying house after house and learn from him.
Inquire as to whether they know of anybody investing into land or you can say a real estate. You never know who may be an accomplished land speculator. These accomplished individuals are an abundance of learning. It is critical to make a few inquiries, on the grounds that occasionally real estate investors are very secretive.Trust it or not, yet there is a type of real estate investor that don’t transparently impart to individuals that they put resources into land.
My experience has been that when you self educate the odds are against you that you take any action. Doing something of this caliber that you have no experience in can be terrifying. I’m not sure that there really are a lot of scams out there. I guess it depends on what they consider a scam to be. There are a lot of overpriced, over hyped guru programs out there that take your money and leave you with an 800 number to talk to a guy reading a script out of his mother’s basement. I guess that is pretty close to a scam but you need actual get some practical information. There are programs out there where you can get all the knowledge you need and all the support you need to apply it from other investors. It all depends on what it is worth to you to learn how to invest correctly by using the right strategy at the right time in the market.
Please name one. I’m just curious.
Otherwise, this is the worst bloviating against purchasing training I’ve heard in a while.
Don’t know what you are talking about. I’ve purchased an education package and am 100% satisfied with it. It’s the smartest money I’ve spent and I have life time access to it, it’s mentors, the resources available for funding as well as buyers specifically for us, and a very hands on community willing to help at the drop of a dime. Not only is the education top notch but they just deposited $10,000 into my account for introducing someone else to the same education which adds up to over 6 figures a year allowing me to quit my job and focus on real estate full time. My point was that there are probably some platforms out there where money is priority number 1 and the investor is priority number 2. So relax, I made no attack on whatever education you have and I’m sure it has done great things for you.
Obviously you’re full of BS.
Otherwise, name one “overpriced, over hyped guru programs out there that take your money and leave you with an 800 number to talk to a guy reading a script out of his mother’s basement.”
I’m still curious.
Again, my pal in SoCal is correct and still nobody can name one overpriced and undeserving mentor!
But I will say that many over the past 25 years thought I was (and still am) overpriced in my mentor programs…but then again, I give the guaranteed results of $100k over my one year mentorship.
So…what is the results?! Those who do the work and take the coaching earn the $100k+…those who are lazy and un-coachable quit and want a refund! It is NEVER about themselves…its about the coach!
Well, if you are coachable, you can buy a $20 book and make $100K/year+ flipping houses. Anything I do or teach over the past 25 years is already written about and available in a book…some prefer a personal coach to walk them through deals.
So…don’t look for a coach/mentor unless you are coachable…then choose one (there are plenty), shut your pie hole, and get to work!
Hope that helps.
Rob
Getting the basic right from some personal study and some of the online programs can work, but number 1 is really TAKE ACTION. Most people love reading about “how easy it is” but then end up doing nothing about it.
One of the challenges is that it often takes a few leads to get going (1 in 20 is frequent) and some new people get disappointed if they dont have a sale within the first few leads that they get.
Get out there, look for houses and get make some offers.
When I started in real estate aside from doing my research online my friends are also a good source. So try to find in your local area first then you can asked your good friends for help.
Paid mentoring can really be scary especially because of all the scammers out there. Self-study in my opinion is the best when you’re still starting but if you truly need mentoring why not go to universities? There are some professors who teach real estate. You can also look for good and credible real estate agents, but before accepting their services make sure to do background check and referrals to make sure they’re legitimate.
Very true. There are a lot of scams out there.
Do you really need a mentor? Maybe you wanna try self-help books or e-books that can be purchased online. Sometimes, there is no need for a personal interaction with the lecturer. You can even watch videos on youtube. If you insist, I think enrolling to some real estate business school or seminars could help.
You can find many connections on a site called resaas