As a novice investor, the biggest thing I struggled with was trying to get started. It seemed like a common theme, for people that were just getting started, to stress about having read so many books and listening to numerous podcasts and still do not know where to begin. 

I've spent hours myself looking up houses for sale while not having a dam clue if the property was a good investment or not. I have seen so many people say that there were deals EVERYWHERE and I was just was getting so frustrated not being able to find the "golden goose." 

However, I did make a recent breakthrough after hours and hours of aimless wondering on the internet. I finally just picked 2 cities in a highly populated area in my state and started going through all the houses that were for sale. I created my own spreadsheet to record the street name, sale price, price per sqft, zip codes, and a few other categories in, (so far) apprx 50 different properties, that helped me analyze each property separately. 

I then realized that I was able to compare apples to apples when I was seeing which houses were in the same zip codes, same sqft and similar Beds/Baths, and noticed when a property was a possible  "good deal" based on the price per sqft. And now I am able to schedule showings for those properties and start getting more hands on experience.

Although this hasn't yet translated into deals, I feel more confident about recognizing when a property could be a potential invest, and actually have a game plan to implement when looking for deals in the future. Plus I plan on using my spreadsheet as a reference for off the market deals to compare to Listing prices and Prices that have already sold. Also I will be able to track if there are any houses that have Lingered on the market for a while and possibly find one that will take a huge price reduction because of being on the market for a longer period of time. 

I hope this helps someone that is either getting analysis paralysis or just strugging to figure out how to get started!