Hi every one, this is daab from N.Y.
I like real estate investing. I have read some books already and I would need someone to take me step by step and give me a push to get started.
Would anyone with good experience find me a mentoring / coaching program which you have succeeded with?
How do I find books that have given you the right knowledge?
I was at an open house at one of my houses yesterday. A lady came in and asked me the exact same thing. She called before and asked me a few questions to find out what I was doing. She came and asked me if I would mentor her.
You may want to look in your local paper and find an investor doing what you want to do and call them. You may find one that will walk you through it. You may have to try several to find one that fits your strategy and temperament but it was a great move on her part to get some free tips on how this thing works.
Thanks Bluemoon06, but sorry what I found is that the kept every thing for a secret.
The are afraid that I will compete them
Really? Nobody can do all the deals. I say keep trying. There are new people putting properties up for lease and sell every week. Contact them all. Even contact the same ones over again. That will show them that you are serious. Real estate is local. You have to find somebody where you are doing what you want to do. I can’t mentor you from Houston, and I can’t mentor someone in Houston unless they want to buy fix up and rent. I only know how to do what I do where I do it.
There is no such thing as competition in real estate. When I find a property I want it really bad at the price I offer. I don’t want it at all at a penny more than I offer. Anybody that buys a property that out bids me, has paid too much for it. I don’t want to out bid them. I would love to mentor them so they know that they are bidding too much so the market doesn’t get out of control.
Let’s put it this way, how have you guys get in REI, just ‘jumped’ in and made some contacts with RE agents?
Or you have taken sum good tools like audios, books, mentoring, seminars, and courses?
Well, that really depends on what you’re interested in doing. There are people that do birddogging and wholesaling. Some do strictly preforeclosure, some are doing foreclosure auctions, some are doing REOs, some focus on probates and some do fixers. Some are flipping, some are rehabbing and then selling, some are landlords. What you’ve asked is really quite broad until you do some research on your own and see where your interests lie.
daab,
You definitely need to read books, and learn as much as you can. You don’t need a mentor, waste of money. In order to “jump” in, you need to actually go out and see some real estate.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to call a Realtor and tell them you are thinking of maybe buying rehabs, or rentals. Tell them you’d like to see a bunch of each. Have them send you the MLS print outs. You don’t have to buy anything, but you will get an idea of what is out there, and what you feel comfortable with.
I think 95% of people who don’t get started die right where I’m at.
Read, read, read. Go to seminars or meetings.
Spend a lot of time online looking at properties…
Then nothing.
Somewhere there’s a step of needing to look at properties, analyze quickly, and then buy. (I think).
What also paralyzes us is when we get close to looking or doing a deal, we read:
-Look at X number of properties first.
-That won’t cashflow but good luck.
-Find a mentor, but not me. Plenty of people should be willing to help you, but I can’t
-Establish an LLC first
-Did you put it in a trust?
-Did you have a lender relationship?
-Do you have X amount in cash reserves?
-Do you know what your expenses are for replacing a parking lot and the roof?
dd564, you are at the point where you need to make a purchase. I went through a lot of what you described. So much of what I was reading did not seem to apply to my particular area. Expenses vary greatly. I found a rental property, considered the rent that I could get for it and how much they were asking and bought it. I didn’t have an LLC, a trust, mentor, estimated costs for rebuilding, reroofing, handyman on stand-by, lawyer on retainer, had not taken a banker to lunch, never bought the building inspector a birthday present, no complicated excel spreadsheet or database, etc. I just took the leap and decided it rents for x amount, will cost me y amount and decided it would work. Three years later it is still rented, still cash flowing, and I have purchased two other rental units and am closing this week on a 3/2 SFH that will be a great fix and re sell. So much of what you mentioned you will do as you get further into investing. Just START and then NEVER quit. Best of luck to you.
Thanks all for your advice against coaching.
This is ( like any other self employed business ), a business where at some point you have to just cowboy up. ( as we say on the ranch ). You may find someone to teach you, and to be a mentor, but if you need pushing, that has to come from inside. If you are through the knowledge part of it, and are just worrying about getting a perfect deal, then its time to get something done. Grow a set and make the best buy you can and then start to learn from doing the real thing.
My two cents,
DB
daab,
REI (or any other business) is not that complicated, but you MUST understand the realities of your business. You said that you have read some books but you need someone to lead you step by step and give you a push to get started. Obviously, you haven’t done enough reading or studying or you would know how to start, step by step.
It will be VERY difficult to find someone who will take you by the hand and lead you step by step. It will be nearly impossible to find someone who is going to push you to do so. Why should anyone do that?
If you really want to start a REI business, then do whatever it takes to understand the business. I am not suggesting that you spend months or years studying. When I first started, I spent an entire week studying (every waking moment), then I immediately bought my first rental.
dd564,
What also paralyzes us is when we get close to looking or doing a deal, we read:-Look at X number of properties first.
-That won’t cashflow but good luck.
You see, that’s the problem. If you understand the basics, why are you asking someone else whether a property will cash flow? That is something that you MUST, MUST know if you are going to succeed in this business. Have you ever seen one of the successful investors post a deal and ask whether they should do it or not? Of course not. Successful investors don’t need anyone else’s opinion - they know whether a property will cash flow or not. After all, it’s simply a math equation.
My point is that YOU must understand the realities of your business. Once you have the understanding, put that into practice. It is just that simple!
Mike
I’ve been trying to follow some of the better cash flow rules out there, but those deals don’t exist here. It’s partly because of the appreciation of the market. People will buy fast with more optimistic equations than I’m trying to use. I’m trying to use national numbers, and I swear this market is different.
I figure I’ll relax my rules on my first purchase and rely on cash reserves to handle unexpected repairs. I will pay attention to cash flow, but I can’t go with the same rules as some markets, otherwise I’ll never get started.
dd,
It might be better to never start than to lose a bunch of money. Contrary to the guru nonsense, everything does not work in every market at every time. Remember, just because a wave of newbies are buying at ridiculously high prices doesn’t mean that you should. My mamma always asked: “If everyone else jumps off a cliff, are you going to follow?”
In every market (inlcuding my market), the vast majority of new investors are paying far more than they should and end up going out of business in a short time. Doesn’t sound like a good plan to me.
Mike
No. What seems odd is you would think these people would go in, and get broke, and get out. But here we seem to have enough new people diving in who don’t know how to do math. I would think in the next year or two it might get better, but I’ve been saying that for a year already.
It seems like we keep getting wave after wave of people who keep trying it.
Crazy stuff.