Your first year as a Real Estate Investor....

[Matt H]

Your First Year as a Real Estate Investor:

From:
Matt H
South of the North Saskachewan River
Tuesday 5:37 a.m.

Dear Friend,

It's way too early to be up and writing to you...

But in a few hours I'll be working on some big apartment building deals. And this may be my only chance to reveal a few secrets that I believe could make the difference between you becoming a millionaire real estate investor, like myself, or remaining confused and paralyzed, never getting anywhere....

So consider this my free crash course offering to you the 10 most important lessons I've taken out of my years as a realestate investor. The same lessons that made me a millionaire and that I believe can do the same for you.

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #1) This is lesson number one because it's the most important. If you follow it exactly as I've prescribed you're bound to get filthy rich in real estate. If you don't, you're almost guaranteed to fail miserably. I wish there was an easier way of saying it but there isn't. So just do this, and that is to get educated. And the way to do that is by doing just two things: A) The very first thing you'll do is invest some time and money in two courses. They are popular realestate courses that teach all the foundational skills you absolutely have to know. The first one you have to own is called: Carlton Sheets – No Money Down. The second you have to study is: Dolph De Roos – Real Estate Investors College. You can pick them up from various online sites like Ebay, Amazon, Barns and Noble etc. So if you're not willing to do this, then I recommend you leave this site and never look into getting involved in realestate ever again. Perhaps just work harder at your job and with a little luck you'll get a promotion or something and a $2 buck an hour raise, because you will never be a real estate millionaire, or even a moderate realestate success if you do not invest and study these two courses. Now lets move on....

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #2) Now this step is as important as the first. The courses you just bought come in the form of audio cassette and CD's. (you did buy the courses right!) So you will put them in your car. During your drive time to and from work you will listen to them. That will give you anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours of hard core real estate education each day. And as you build that habit of turning your drive time into study time you'll be laying the foundational skills that you'll need to become a major realestate success! Again without doing this, you might as well leave this site now and forget about realestate altogether. (if you don't drive to work then just use a Walkman to listen to them as you commute to work).

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #3) Now I was tempted to put this lesson as number one on the list because I feel it has equal weight as my first couple lessons. This one will literally make or break your realestate investing career. This has to happen in order for you to soar to the top. And that is you have to do your first deal. I know, I know, that sounds so scary right! Yes, unfortunately that means you have to dive off the high board. And as your on the edge looking down to the water below it looks so scary right? Well don't worry, the water is warm and deep and you will not get hurt. So what you do is begin making lots of offers on whatever type of properties you're comfortable with. Perhaps you just want to start small, buy a condo or a mobile home and rent it out. Or perhaps you're comfortable with buying a up/down house, duplex, fourplex, or even a small apartment building. Whatever you're comfortable with it really doesn't matter all that much. Why? Because it's like jumping off the diving board. You're not gonna do a summersalt like an Olympic athlete. Your goal is to just get off the spring board and make it into the water. So dive in. And don't worry about getting the best deal. You won't. Your goal is to simply get any deal that in the worst case senario is just breaking even in cash flow. And at best “has some cash flow” left for you to pocket after all expenses and debt servicing has been paid each month.

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #4) Since lesson 3 is quite long I'm continuing it here. This is the how too part of the lesson. And so the way in which you buy your first property is simply by making tons of offers. The way in which you do that is first by teaming up with a realtor who can assist you in the process. Remember if you make enough offers you're bound to eventually buy a property. If you don't have any money that's okay because you'll have already read "Carlton Sheets – No Money Down" course by now and you'll know exactly how to make "no money down" offers. And one of those offers is bound to get accepted. If you do have money to invest then what are you waiting for? Try to make it a goal to look at ten properties per day and make at least one written offer per day. One of the fastest ways to browse property listings is online. Don't waste time driving around. Just go online to your local MLS listings and review the properties there. Ideally try to find something that has more than one unit. So perhaps a house that you could rent the top floor and also the basement as two units. The other thing I like about the mls listings online is that you can see who the listing agent is. And if you're realtor isn't keeping pace with you, then just don't even worry about them so much, and just fax a letter of intent to purchase to the realtor whose name you find on the property listing. They will take your letter of intent and run it by the seller of the property. If they agree then you'll simply write up a formal offer on a proper realestate contract and you'll have a deal. Again all this stuff you'll be familiar with if you've read the courses.

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #5) Look up a local real estate club in your area that you can attend. Try to find one that doesn't cost much or is free to attend. There you can meet other realestate investors, sharpen your skills, and learn more about the industry. You need to get around like minded people who can guide you and support you in your journey toward success.

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #6) One advantage of joining a realestate investment club is it will give you a chance to try and find a mentor. Finding a successful mentor who is willing to just be your friend is like finding gold. Because just by becoming their friend you will learn tons about the industry that you probably don't know. And they can give you the support and guidance you need to get you started. So definitely find a mentor whose already walked down the path that you want to travel.

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #7) Set a goal that you want to achieve and write it down. This is super important. Oddly enough I've done it many times so far where I'll come up with a goal, I'll write it down in a journal, and then I'll just put it away. Then some time will go by and I'll reach my goal. Often later I might pull out the journal and notice that the goals that I had clearly written down actually came to life. So definitely create some financial goals. And break them down into an action plan so you'll know day by day what needs to be done in order to reach you're ultimate goal. There are tons of books and websites out there that deal with this topic.

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #8) One common mistake I find with beginners is they often do things in the wrong order. You're goal is to make deals. Actually signed deals that get accepted. You're goal is NOT to waste countless hours driving around in your car and trespassing on other peoples property to try and get look in the window so see what the place looks like on the inside. So don't go look at the property. Don't go get pre-approved by the bank. Why? Because you have no deal, that's why. First go and get a signed deal. So in order to do that you'll make lots of offers. Browse the MLS listings, looking for properties that would fit your situation and comfort level. When you find some call the listing realtor, get them to fax you the proforma and other documentation on the property. Then if the numbers all make sense just fax back a letter of intent or call them and tell them you want to make an offer. Don't go drive down to meet them. Get them to fax you an offer, sign it, and fax it back, because you got more offers to make and you simply cannot afford to be driving around yet. Then once you got a signed offer only then go down and inspect the property and go and talk to a mortgage broker or a banker about getting a mortgage. That's when the driving around part comes in. Not before you even have a signed deal. The reason I stress this is you have only limited time. So unless the property is very close by then get a signed deal first, subject to financing. Then go and drive drive drive.

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #9) Make an offer a day. And in this age of connectivity it's not hard to do. You have the internet, you have a phone, and hopefully a fax. That's all you need. Those are the tools of the realestate investor. So just start using them each day to try to get out some “letters of intent to purchase” and or better yet some formal offers. If you can make an offer a day you'll be well on your way to becoming not only a successful realestate investor but a millionaire.

MILLIONAIRE LESSON #10) Start to look at realestate investing as a full time career move. Because if you take it seriously you will quickly find yourself in a situation where you could easily afford to leave your day job and work for yourself. Every property you buy with someone else's cash and every additional unit you rent out, means you've just turned up the stream of income that's coming into your life. And it doesn't take that many rentals to be already replacing the income from your day job in the form of rental income. Once you can make realestate investing your full time gig then you'll have even more time and money to work with, it's only smooth sailing from that point on.

Anyway I'm getting tired. So I'd better quit while I'm ahead. Gook luck to all of you. And just remember...”The shortest distance between two points is a straight line!”.