Practical Guide to Getting Started?

Question

In short, I get the concept of how to make money investing into real estate. I've read a few books on the topic, I've done some research online into it, etc. However, everything I have seen so far just seems to gloss over the details and overfocus on the hype (how much money you can make, it's your "key" to financial freedom, etc.). What I am trying to find is some resources that give you the actual steps on how to get started, such as:

1) The process you should know in advance as to how real estate purchasing, selling, investing, etc. actually works and the various options you have to be able to do it (yourself, a real estate broker, etc.), what each of those options offer as far as advantages and disadvantages, etc.

2) How to find good resources to help you find investments (seems like real estate brokers is the way to go, but I have absolutely no clue what to look for to find a good one as far as their background, let alone where to even look).

3) What websites, companies, and other resources are good to utilize.

4) How attorneys are involved, how to get them involved combined with brokers, etc. (I ask this one as I see a lot of recommendations of utilizing an attorney to acquire foreclosed homes, but absolutely no idea what type of attorney, how to integrate them with a broker, etc.).

5) Any other information that is important that I may have skipped over here.

I completely get the general concepts, but so far, all the books I have read and websites/videos I have researched are just a bunch of hype. No actual step-by-step processes or practical guides to follow through on the process. So with that said, whatever suggestions any of you would have would be greatly appreciated. I'm open to just about anything that doesn't require me spending tons of money just to learn how to make money (which seems counter-intuitive imo) - things like textbooks, open courseware, websites, etc. Whatever you know of that would be good, I'm open to. I appreciate whatever help any of you can give me.

Salvatore Lentini · Answer

@Anthony Evans - I know it can be frustrating but what you're feeling is what everyone goes through.  And it's the reason why so many people stagnate in a state of "Analysis Paralysis".  If it makes you feel any better I decided I was going to invest in real estate in 2002.  I wholesaled my first property 10 years later. 2 years later I flipped my first property.  3 months later I bought my first rental and then bought 7 more rentals in the next 12 months. The following year I started buying small multifamilies, then a 14 unit, then a pool of multifamilies, a commercial property, an office building, then a 50,000 sq ft office building and now I'm developing a condo/townhouse subdivision, I'm considering a mixed use development project, and reviewing several offering memorandums on multifamilies and commercial properties.  My point is, looking back now....when I decided in 2002 to invest in real estate I should've just invested in 2002 and not waited 10 years.  You're never going to know everything.  There is a fair amount of trial by fire in real estate.  Every deal is different and as you grow and enter new areas of real estate you'll need to learn more.  I have a portfolio of 127 rentals and I'm constantly learning.

Just get started. I don't mean go out and just buy something but there are plenty of steps between deciding you want to invest and actually investing. Start going to local real estate meetings. Start figuring out what you want to invest in (wholesaling, flips, rentals, SFR, MF, land, billboards etc). A lot of it will be dictated by the money in your bank account or your access to money. It will also depend on your current employment situation, how much time you have available, where you live and what your short term and long term goals are financially and personal.

You can't map it out step by step from the start because it's a journey and everyone's journey is unique to them. What you think you want to do now and what you end up deciding to do over the coming years will likely end up being very different.

Anthony Evans · Answer

Thank you so much for all the information here.  I'm definitely going to utilize the education section here as suggested, and start working on getting my feet wet by talking with some people in the industry and see what directions they point me.  I have worked in multiple industries over the years, and I've learned enough over the years to know how little I actually know about this industry.  But, I'm definitely ready to do it without the "analysis paralysis."  My only limiting factor currently is the finances to toy with it all, but I am trying to educate myself in advance, so when I'm ready later this year, I'll have the knowledge by the time the money is here.  Thanks again for all of your help here.

James Hamling · Answer

@Anthony Evans if I am understanding you correctly your looking for a step by step exact directions on what to do, with whom, how, where and so on, to launch a successful Real Estate Investing company, correct?

That is an easy answer, dosn't exist, and won't, ever.

Reason your finding so much in generalities is because Real Estate Investing is a very generalized term and concept, under which there is dozens upon dozens of main strategy forms of REI, and each of those have dozens upon dozens of implementations and configurations. Then we add onto this that each state has its own variances in laws that change and impact each of these. So on a national level there is thousands of different ways to do Real Estate Investing.

Now if anyone decides they feel up to writing the REI Encyclopedia library, not to mention they would actually have to possess such commanding knowledge to write such direction guides in each, but by the time they get done writing it all the information would be outdated because REI is like a river not a pond, it's always moving, adjusting, evolving, adapting. Markets change, demographic change, laws change.

Step 1 to getting into REI is getting some base knowledge and exposure, from there step 2 is evaluating your personal situation, resources, hurdles, preferences and choosing your own individual strategy and starting REI formation, no book can say what's best for you, a guide can't say you need to start as a wholesaler or a flipper, HML, Joint-Venture, etc etc etc..

It's for this reason why people pay $25k-$50k on "mentors" who will supposedly do all these things for a person. In my experience those programs are more comparable with the coaches on "the biggest loser" than being a purchased magic pill that suddenly makes all the changes, so either way it's gotta be you who does it, only question is if on your own or with an expensive coach chasing behind cracking a whip on ya to keep you moving forward at it.

Jeff Copeland · Answer

Hover over the "Education" tab at the top of this page and you'll find enough resources there to keep you busy for months.

Practical Guide to Getting Started?

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