Where can I spend my time to learn about real estate investing?

Question

Hey everyone,

I have a lot of free time on my hands and I want to spend it on educating myself about real estate investing.  I plan to attend the local REIA meetings near me to meet people that I can hopefully spend some time learning from.

Did anyone else start out volunteering their time for a local investor/real estate agent?

Paul Timmins · Answer

@Jeff Zhang

Welcome. Fill in the foundation below.

Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere

Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.

Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice. And you get the benefit of having over 100 past ones to catch up on.

Locate and attend 3 different local REIA club meetings great place to meet people gather resources and info. Here you will meet wholesalers who provide deals and rehabbers (cash buyers). Find them through Google and meetup.com

Two Great reads, I bought both J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,  The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs  http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Consider checking out HUD homes for small multi's owner occupied gets first crack.

Download BP’s newest book here some good due diligence in Chapter 10. Real Estate Rewind Starting over

http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/brandonatbp/file/real-estate-rewind-a-biggerpockets-community-book

Good Luck

Paul

Nathanial Dunne · Answer

Hi Jeff

If you have time on your hands, I would recommend listening to all of the BP podcasts.  They will help you choose the real estate direction you might like to invest in.  My best suggestion is to take notes while listening.  Create an account with 'Evernote.com' and take notes in there.  That way you can reference them easily and have them with you on any device.

My next piece of advice is to call a few realtors and take them for a coffee.  Be open that you're getting started, don't take up too much of their time though, it's simply a meet and great.  This has 2 benefits, you make a professional contact and you feel like you've started on the journey.

Next advice is to meet other investors.  Wherever you can, as often as you can.  But here's the thing, listen to as many of the podcasts before going and meeting too many people, the podcasts will help you know who to talk to and what to ask because they will fill you with so much information and excitement.

I hope this helps you move to the next step.

Regards

Nate

Jeff Zhang · Answer

Account Closed

Thank you Paul.  I appreciate the checklist!

Okeoma M. · Answer

Lots of great answers so far. Just wanted to add that as a newbie investor I've found property management companies to be a great resource (whether or not you plan to use one), the good ones tend to have a good sense of the rental market, they know local investors and, most importantly, they want you to keep them in mind once you have properties, so they tend to be really helpful and patient. Send me a message if you want more info on the questions I use to get info from PMs!

Good luck and welcome to BP!

Jeff Zhang · Answer

@Anthony Gayden

Thanks for the advice!  I'm gonna be spending tons of time on BP for sure.  What an amazing community here and so much resources for beginners like myself!

@Dan Costantino

I've been looking for REIA's through meetup.com but are there other ways to do that?  The local ones I've found do not have any events planned for the near future.  I don't think I'll be looking to buy any training courses right now, not with the wealth of information right here on BP.

The market where I live is pretty tough, as any New Yorker can probably tell you, and to be honest I'm intimidated by it.  I would love to learn about long distance investing and finding deals all over the country.  Would finding a partner be the most realistic way of doing that?

Nathan Patterson · Answer

Welcome.  A great source is of course BP.  You can also spend time doing your own research on google, or other forums/books, on things you might not understand or know yet.  Such as different types of lending, tips on analyzing etc.  Reia's are good as well, especially for meeting people who are interested in the same thing as you that you can bounce questions off of.

Dan Costantino · Answer

You're doing the right thing.  BP and your REIA.  Don't buy the expensive training courses like Fortune Builders and Rich Dad!!!!!!!!

Ndy Onyido · Answer

Answer is short and simple......

It is Right here on BP.

Anthony Gayden · Answer

@Jeff Zhang

I spend a lot of time here on Bigger Pockets. Listening to the podcasts, reading the blogs, and going over tons of forum posts. This place is a wealth of knowledge.

Aside from that, I talk to everyone willing to listen. Even people who don't invest will be able to tell you the best or fastest growing areas in town. A lot of people also have one rental, which is usually a former primary residence. I bumped into a coworker the other day and started chatting and found out he owns 7 SFRs here in Tucson. He bought them cheap after the recession, fixed them up himself, and now rents them out.

Where can I spend my time to learn about real estate investing?

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