Looking for step 0

[Kyle Jepson]

Hello BiggerPockets!

I think a lot of people probably come here looking for the first step in real estate investing, but I'm actually looking for the step just before that. I've had a nagging curiosity about real estate investing for probably a decade now, but I just never felt stable enough to even think about getting started. Now I'm nearing 30, have a wife and a kid and a couple of degrees, and a good steady job, and I'm starting to feel a very deep need to find a source of long-term financial stability. Since real estate has always been my secret fancy, here I am.

But here's the deal--I know all too well I'm a flavor-of-the-month sort of guy. Before I go frolicking through the MLS listings, I need to establish some benchmark to measure my seriousness. I don't want to (for example) by a dilapidated house that I'm convinced I'll fix up and resell and then end up spending the rest of my life living with a leaky roof because I never got around to buying roofing nails.

So my theory is that, if I can muster the commitment to get through, say, 5 thick books on real estate investing--if I don't give up and get board halfway through--well, that's a pretty good sign. I live in Boston, home of one of the best public library systems in America, so I'm pretty sure I can get my hands on any book worth reading, but I have no idea what books are worth reading.

Any recommendations for excellent but daunting real estate investing books to test my mettle? Or am I totally misguided and there's some better way to make sure I'm not just trying to jump into something that I won't follow through with? I guess books 1 and 2 should be the eBooks that BiggerPockets just sent me--any advice after that?

Thanks!

[Doug McLeod]

Hi Kyle-

Start with the Free How-To Guides referenced under the "Learn" tab above.  Then check out The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller.  And listen to the BP Podcasts (link also under the "Learn" tab).  Also check out some of the blogs and when you have questions, post them on the forums - like you just did!

Welcome to BP!