I live in central Arkansas and I am researching the RE market. My father is a RE agent here in Arkansas and I have a brother in Ca looking to invest in RE. Any advice on getting started in RE investing and birddogging would be greatly appreciated.
If you’re going to be a birddog, then you’ll need two things: deals and investors. Find the deals first, and the investors will come running.
Don’t spend too much time researching the market. If you’re a good birddog, you’ll be buying dollars for 60 and 70 cents, so “the market” is irrelevant.
The main thing is to actually stop “thinking” abut becoming a birddog and just going out and finding a deal. When you find one, put together all of the information that you would assemble if you were buying it for yourself. Get GOOD, legitimate comps, and make a thorough and accurate assessment of the repairs that will be needed. An investor needs to know only two things when looking at a deal: what will it be worth, and how much do I have to spend to get it there? You need to provide those numbers, and you need to have data to back them up.
If you find a solid deal and have that information ready to go, you will have no trouble handing the deal over to an investor and making a profit.
Of course, if you’re going to do all of that, you might as well consider using hard money (if needed) and just doing the deal yourself…