My neighbors advice - dont touch real estate right now with 10ft pole

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Was up early a few weeks ago listening to a radio show about RE investing. It was Bob Diamond. Somewhere along the way, I called their number to get their free audio cd's and book. Ive been listening to the cd's on the way to work. At first I was about to throw it out the window, but then a few of the techniques caught my attention and sound like something I could possibly handle.

So now, im on a quest to explore this subject some more. Im reading his book and going to also get RE investing for dummies, as Ive seen it recommended here a few times. I read the table of contents and reviews over at amazon and seems like a good place to start.

Now on to the subject of this post -

I was talking to my neighbor a few days ago about my thoughts on getting into real estate by finding bargains and doing some minor fixing up and then listing them. His reply was "I wouldnt touch real estate right now with a 10 ft pole".

I know that the market as a whole is way off from its highs, but my reply was "its all how you buy the property".

I suppose my question is, what techniques can you use to get an idea of how quickly a property that your interested in might sell ?

Also, If it takes 2-5 months for a property to sell, and you have to finance, wont this just about eat up all your profit ?

So now im off to read RE Investing for dummies to get a place to start.