Confused on where to start

[Stace Breland]

Hey all. Very confused on where to start with sooo much info out there so let me tell you where I’ve come from.

So I guess I am new to investing… kinda. I actually had a failed rental home years ago due to it being semi forced into as we had a home in the Seattle area we had to move out of (and out of the area) right as the pandemic set in and so we couldn’t sell it at the time so rented it for a year. It was essentially a break even/lose a little type deal and after a year we sold. Not the best experience but also didn’t buy the home with intent to rent so it was a suboptimal situation to begin with.

Due to “circumstances” I am considered an accredited investor and I’ve looked at syndication for quite awhile and decided to take the plunge with Brandon (Turner) on one of his ODC offerings but it’s still very new so nothing much to report there. I like the syndication idea and will do more at some point but an extra $100k to invest isn’t going to pop into my bank account every month so not sure how often that will happen.

I am confused due to both information overload as well as vague information. I've read numerous books in the bigger pockets collection, some books not in there, Rich Dad, etc. The thing that I have noticed is that all do nice jobs in creating the right investor mindset (debt is good as long as it's good debt) and giving you a general idea of how to do things, but no resource I've found or read teaches how to go from A to B specifically and explains any of the processes in detail. At this point I know the concepts behind to house hack, fix and flip, arbitrage Airbnb, BRRR, etc, etc, etc but do not actually KNOW how to do any of them in detail to the point that I feel I could take the process from A to Z without pitfalls and mistakes.

Everyone here seems to poo poo the idea of paying “gurus” money to learn systems and how to do these things step by step but no one seems to offer ways to learn the actual steps that doesn’t want to charge you so doesn’t that make all of them “gurus”? What the difference in paying a Pace Morby or someone like that vs paying the hundreds or thousands of dollars for the bigger pockets boot camps or paying a couple thousand dollars to go to a conference? Just seems strange people hate people who ask for money for knowledge (gurus) but that’s happening with even some of the most benevolent names in the field, even bigger pockets big names.

Just not sure if this becomes a “just fall in and you’ll learn” type of thing or if I’m missing some good starting point for someone at my level who knows quite a bit but just doesn’t seem to be putting all the pieces of the puzzle together yet.

[Nathan Gesner]

The gurus often give you a lot of rah-rah motivation but very little practical information. Many of them are just an up-sell to the next big secret that still provides very little information. 

Here's a true example. I bought Pace Morby's book when it came out and was pretty disappointed that it had very little practical information. His book included 12 hours of "bonus video content" that was basically Pace telling stories that corresponded to each chapter of his book. I listened to 4-5 hours of "bonus" content and didn't learn anything that wasn't included in the book. It's just fluff. I think it was all fluff, just like his YouTube channel, designed to get people excited to sign up for his course or whatever.

BP has training that is far cheaper. They have forums, blogs, and podcasts full of free information. And there are many books on real estate investing that are full or practical, actionable advice without all the fluff you see in most modern books.

1. Start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free). It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits. Then you can read a more in-depth book like The Book On Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner or The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss (my personal favorite and it was written over 20 years ago before books became shiny objects designed to upsell).

2. Get your finances in order. Get rid of debt, build a budget, and save. The idea that you can build wealth without putting any money into it is a recipe for disaster and the sales pitch of gurus trying to steal your money. A wise investor will not try to get rich quick with shortcuts. If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing. Check out my personal favorite, Set For Life by Scott Trench , or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.

3. As you read these books, watch the BiggerPockets podcasts. This will clarify and reinforce what you are reading. You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.

4. NETWORK!!! Get out of your comfort zone. Stop hanging out with your deadbeat buddies that spend all day drinking, talking sports, and otherwise wasting away. Go to BUILD YOUR TEAM at the top of the screen and look for local investors or meetups in your area. You can also find real estate investing groups through meetup.com, facebook, or a Google search. Birds of a feather flock together!

5. Now you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them. Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books for this or you can learn by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum. There is a handy search bar in the upper right that makes it easy to find previous discussions, blogs, podcasts, and other resources. BiggerPockets also has a calculator you can use to analyze deals and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy. If you consistently analyze properties, it will be much easier to recognize a good deal when it shows up. Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice. It doesn't take long to learn how to spot a good deal.

6. Study the market. You can learn to do this on your own or get a rockstar REALTOR to lead the way. I highly recommend a well-qualified REALTOR that works with investors and knows how to best help you.

7. Jump in! Far too many get stuck in the "paralysis by analysis" stage, thinking they just don't know enough to get started. The truth is, you could read 100 books and still not know enough because certain things need to be learned through trial-and-error. You don't need to know everything to get started; you just need a foundation to build on and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.

You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months. How long it takes to be financially ready is different for everyone. Once you're ready, create a goal (e.g. "I will buy at least one single-family home, duplex, triplex, or fourplex before the end of 2019") and then do it. Real estate investing is a pretty forgiving world and the average person can still make money even with some pretty big mistakes.