First dose of anxiety?

[Adam Settelmyer]

Well as I've state before, I am new to the world of real estate investing. I consider myself in the learning phase. I spend every moment at work listening to the podcasts over and over. I wake up at 4 a.m. (two hours before I need to leave for work) to read and research books, articles, and blogs because when I come home from work I have my responsibilities of being a husband and father of two.

So here's where I am going with this...

Last night I decided to start getting my ducks in a row. Researching home inspectors, real estate attorneys, contacting my CPA to see if he works with real estate investors or to point me to someone who does, and researching general contractors.

I only have a few contacts as far as other real estate investors in the area so before I go and ask them for any suggestions I wanted to have my prior research done so they don't think I'm trying to take the easy road of just trying to use their contacts.

So after hours of doing my homework, I decided to take a look at some listings in my target areas on some websites (Zillow, Trulia). I'm assuming many other first time investors have probably come across that same feeling of anxiety as I had started to feel. Seeing all the different homes for sale and foreclosure listings in those areas became a little overwhelming. Just as I though I had a good grip on what I would be looking for, I was now struggling with wondering where the heck do I begin. I realize finding motivated buyers through direct mail marketing or driving for dollars will help generate leads, but I couldn't help feeling lost as I was sifting through the listed properties. Does anyone have any suggestions to help me direct my focus towards finding the right properties or narrowing my focus? Have many of you also encountered this feeling of wondering where to really start? Thank you for your time.

Adam Settelmyer