Newbie Question: Starting /w Buy & Hold Multi-Unit Properties

[Dan B.]

Hi all,

I've just recently joined the Bigger Pockets community and am really excited to get started with real estate investing! I made the decision to get into real estate investing relatively recently, about a month ago, and have been spending every minute of my free time - I work full-time - reading about it since.

The problem I've encountered, as I assume most people do who are new to the game, is information overload. So I've decided to pick a niche - as recommended by much of the community. My goal is to own a property by the end of this year, but I have limited experience/knowledge/capital (<10k) - I believe it is attainable, but right now I am working to figure out how.

In terms of the path/niche I am considering, I am considering multi-units with a buy & hold strategy. So I am asking for help with two things:

a)Feedback/experience in this niche

b)Can you help me identify resources to learn more about this niche?

Any help is much appreciated!

Thank you in advance!

-Dan

[Andrew Martel]

@Dan B. 

Welcome! I was/still am in your boat.  Here's what i did to start getting out of the fog.

1) Realized that analysis paralysis is a real thing and that I need to take action in order to get anywhere

2) Found a mentor.  There are tons of folks on here who want to help you.  Reach out, talk to folks and go to a club meeting in your local area

3) Get organized.  I was a chaotic mess, no rhyme or reason to anything i was doing. So I made a process to get organized. I too work full time and most days start at 6AM and end at 7PM... so the night time is really when I can dig in. I began treating it like a business. I created a 'battle rhythm' for the week with goals to accomplish on each day and stick to that. It helped a lot.

4) Make phone calls.  For me this was the biggest thing. I just never picked up the phone and talked to someone.  Be honest as to what you are trying to do. Be teachable.

5) Pick one topic a day and google the heck out of it. Research it to death.  Once you think you've got it down, bounce your understanding of the topic off of someone as a sanity test.  Rinse and repeat. When I listen to a podcast or read something on the forums, I look it up immediately.  Cash on cash and land contracts were biggies for me a while back.

That's my two (well 4..) cents in regards to getting through the info overload.

In regards to resources:

1) Bigger Pocket's- I LOVE the podcasts, blogs and of course the forums!

2) Investopedia

3) Amazon Used Books

4) Trulia, zillow, MLS (find a good realtor), hubzu, hudhomestore, homepath (10% down fannie mae mortgages), other investors, craigslist, auction.com, newspapers, and word of mouth are all great options for finding the properties you might be interested in. Of course there are many more resources (too many to list). You might also consider reaching out to someone here that could you find what you're looking for.

Hope this helps a bit! 

-Drew

"...you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love."  -Jim Carrey