When does a newbie stops being a newbie in your opinion?

Question

Hello all,

So I was just thinking today that when does someone you guys call a newbie stops being a newbie and matures to the next level? How many deals or how many months of experience should a newbie have before the transition? Or is there something else in your mind that must happen before a newbie is no longer a newbie?

Thanks!

Eric M. · Answer

A) most newbies call themselves that.  
B) no one else knows you are a newbie unless you post/act like a newbie.  They know if you are new to BP, not new to Real estate.
C)Forget 50 deals, most people here have not done 1 or 2 deals.  Just one goes a long way toward not being a newbie.

So if anyone doesn't want to be labelled a newbie.  
1)Don't call yourself a newbie
2) Don't act like a newbie
3)Learn forum etiquette
4) Educate yourself.  Learn to use "search" to find answers before just asking unintelligent questions.
5)Do a deal.

Curt Davis · Answer

Well,  I have sold over 150 sfr investment homes so in this field its safe to say I am not a newbie.  If we were talking about how many short sales I have done that number is 0, so I could be a newbie in this field.

Marc Freislinger · Answer

I think we should all always be learning. I've done several deals (some profitable, some not), and I still feel like there's more to learn, and much more experience to gain.

Maybe the guys with 100+ deals know when they stopped being "newbies" :)

Vikram C. · Answer

If you are able to earn above-average returns on a consistent basis in your business, then you are not a newbie.  If you are earning below average returns even after doing a lot of deals, you have yet to learn the business.  Experience is important but it is how much you learn from your experiences that is more important.

Tracy Caywood · Answer

Good question. That label could keep you awake at night. While yes, 150+ deals definitely qualifies you as "experienced", I think you've earned your way out of the newbie status once you've closed at least 25 - 30 deals.  That doesn't mean that you've been there and done that with everything, it just means that you're not "new" to the terminology, the business, or the experience of real estate investing.

But do remember this: When you quit learning, you quit earning. Good Luck, Newb!!  JK

Bill Gulley · Answer

Hi, to me, a newbie is someone who lacks knowledge in a particular area or who is just new to a group. If I were to join a group of investors in some strategy, I'm the newbie and in that sence, I would always be the newbie until someone else was admitted to take that title. It's like being the youngest child of the family.

As to gaining expertise, I don't view someone who has done all the functions say, of acquiring properties, who has say 50 or 100 deals under their belt. Or maybe those with 5 or less years experience. Now, there are many who do certain functions in deals, say a birddog, 5 years of birddogging they have paid their dues and should have that down by then, but to say the are experienced in real estate may not be a true statement at all, so they could still be a newbie in say. locating apartments.

I consider myself a newbie of sorts in short sales, since the process has changed since I purchased bank owned properties below the par value of the mortgage. I don't do residential short sales today. However, I'm in a deal for a short sale of a commercial property which has turne out to be very demanding in many ways, that other investors having done 500 short sales might not get accomplished.

Smeone who has less experience than you might not see you as a newbie at all. Maybe in ten years, those of us that hve been at it for almost 40 years will always see you as a newbie, or as the youngest in the family.

Above all, don't worry about it, it's not a derogatory term! Bill

Mitch Kronowit · Answer

Ah, yes - it's impossible to compete with the wit of Will Rogers.       :joker:

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Another Will Rogers classic, especially for BP:

Buy land, they ain't making anymore of the stuff.

Bill Gulley · Answer

LOL, Mitch, I thought you had to be more than fifty miles from home to be an expert!

Mitch Kronowit · Answer

Definition of an "expert" - Somebody that's stopped learning.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Good point Tracy and I meant to mmention tha as well, if you fail to learn you will fail to earn, you'll also become a has been real quick, which is worse than a newbie! LOL

That's why I have always had a personal goal, regardless of how busy I was or where I was, to learn something new everyday. If you do that, you can shake that newbie status alot faster, IMO.

When does a newbie stops being a newbie in your opinion?

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