The number 1 Dilemna for newbie Investors!

[John N.]

The number one issue that I see for new investors, like myself, is the ability to setup/run a real estate investment business on a part time basis while still maintaining a full time job.

The question I have for everyone is...how do you do it? What technologies, strategies do you use to leverage your time and get the most bang for the buck?

My goal is to spend more quality time with my family and participate in all of their extracurricular activities. Real estate investment is the vehicle I have chosen to help liberate me from being leveraged by employers.

Thoughts?

John

[Justin S.]

John-

I am in a very similiar situation like yourself, I'll explain my day to you and you can take it for what its worth. I started with a few thousand in the bank to pay for marketing.

Right now, I only invest in shortsales and I do double closes for the following reasons:
1. I can control the property with no out of pocket costs
2. Once I sign the people, I have zero competition because I control the property.
3. I do double closes, so I have no out of pocket expenses
4. 100% financing is available for double closes.
5. In my mind, all short sales are good deals cause you make the deal. The investor has a lot control in the outcome of the deal.

My days start at 6 am, in which I check the emails and see if I got any leads. I go to my day job from 7-5. I come home, cook dinner, and work on real estate from seven or eight o'clock at night until ten to midnight. I do this at least 4 work nights a week. I'm not hiding in my office doing this, I'm generally on the couch with the girlfriend watching TV with a laptop or something. I will generally dedicate at least 8 hours a weekend to real estate but sometimes cheat when I get too stressed or the girlfriend yells at me.

My marketing plan is weak right now, but I send out 50-80 postcards a day (I prepared them the night before). I'm constantly updating my website and constantly checking biggerpockets for information. My favorite subject right now is whether a option contract gives you equitable interest. The debates on it are quite good. When I remember, I place adds all over craigslist. Myself and my mentor (Nick Johnson) created a new postcard that we are testing out this week. I just received them today.

When I'm not putting physical effort into RE, I'm reading books on tax law, real esate law, negotiation tactics, etc. Anything to make me smarter on RE.

I've been doing this pretty steadily for 6 months. Before, that I'd say I was spinning my wheels for 3 months. Before, that I was learning the basics.

So adding that up: My day job takes 40-50 hours a week. My RE job takes 28 hours a week. So, I work close to 80 hours week.

Things that I found that help are:
1. Blackberry's so I can respond to emails real time.
2. A separate line to receive calls
3. Electronic fax subscription so I can fax docs during the day if I have too.
4. I'm now setting up an external harddrive that I can login to from anywhere in the world. So if someone calls to send me a contract, HUD-1, etc. I can login and grab it.
5. I call back all my leads same day, I do it in my car at lunch time or on the drive home.
6. I only mail postcards cause stuffing envelopes took too much time. When I get cash, I'll probably outsource that.

You can do it, but if its not your passion then I would suggest something else. It definitely takes time and effort. Once you get your 80 hour routine down though, it becomes second nature.