How do you practice analyzing deals?

[Julia Fair]

I want to practice analyzing deals before I jump into anything. But is that possible to do without involving anyone else? Do you need to actually go to the house and have a contractor there to walk through and figure out rehab costs? 

I see people talking about going through 100 deals before finding the right 1 deal. I just don't see how that's feasible when you're trying to get a realtor AND  contractor there at the same time. Seems to me like they'd tell you to kick rocks after the first few. 

[Alexander Felice]

big mistake new people make is having contractors look at houses that aren't under contract. This is a waste of everyone's time. Realtor never needs to see the house, neither do you really.

get the property under contract, then use your due diligence to check it out.

You can analyze properties all day long without contractor estimates. track your bids, then go back later and find out what they sold for, THEN keep an eye out for when they get rented/sold for. This should give a really clear picture of where you need to be bidding, what the market costs, and where the market values these properties.