Looking to connect with real estate investors

[Noah Kreifels]

I am new to real estate investing and am looking to connect with others who have rental properties. Are there any helpful tips for a new investor?

[Alex Gunnerson]

Welcome to BP Noah!

I'm an investor and would love to help you answer some questions and see how I can help. Asking more specific questions will help other investors like myself support you even better. Here are a few questions I would start with. If you can't answer any of these questions, dig in further.

Why do you want to become an investor?  

Write this down and don't BS yourself. Without a strong why, it probably isn't worth it, you will get burn't out. Fortunately, there are a lot of great reasons to invest in real estate.

What are you looking to get out of your investments?

Some properties cashflow really well but have less opportunity for significant appreciation. Some properties are the other way around.  Yes, we all want both cash flow AND appreciation and those properties are out there, but identifying which is more important to you will help you answer your next question... 

Where do you want to invest? 

I always recommend starting in your own backyard. Investing in an area that you are already familiar with is advantageous because you which areas to avoid, which areas are up and coming, which are stagnant etc. This also allows you to self-manage your property instead of hiring out a property manager. This will save you $$$ but will also teach you the ins and outs of being a landlord. Just make sure when you run your numbers, you are baking in a property management fee so that if and when the time comes and you are ready to hire a property manager to help you scale, you can do so. If your backyard just doesn't seem like its going to work to help you achieve your cashflow, appreciation, or other goals, then you'll need to start researching other areas to invest in. Once you have narrowed your search down to a few markets I would reach out to investor friendly agents in those markets and ask them any questions you have about the market so you can decide on where you are going to start your investing journey.

These are just a few questions to get started, you will run into many more. You'll find that there are MANY ways to be successful in real estate, eventually you have to pick one and get started. Yes, you want to be diligent, and make informed decisions, but also be aware that you will never have the answer to every question and there will come a point where you have to start taking action. Its a marathon not a sprint, just focus on taking 1 step towards your goal in each day. You'll feel like you've made no progress after a week, but after a year you'll look back and say "how did I get all of that done?". Making this forum post was step one, you are on the right track.