First time investment

[Anthony Taslimi]

Hello,

I am new in this forum and I found some of the postings here very helpful. So I decided to create a new post to ask few questions I had.

To be honest Real estate has been my passion since I was 24 years old (I am 29 now). I've taken few mentorship courses which have helped me understand the way real estate work. But I do understand that there isn't anything better than actually getting involved and making my first investment to learn about real estate.

To tell you a bit about myself, I am a Canadian citizen and I am planning to move to chicago IL promptly. when it comes to real estate I do not have any experience but I've been buying and selling all sorts of cars for over 10 years. Since I was 18 years old. So I do have quite a bit of background when it comes to negotiations and building relationships. I've also been involved in ecommerce and have few online stores. I know it's a totally different business model but I wasn't going to sit around and do nothing, just because I had bad credit, and prices were sky high here in Vancouver Canada.

So I am wondering given my circumstances right now. What would be the best way to get into a property? I am willing to do anything to get started. I have about 7-10K US dollars. Any suggestions or comments are appreciated.

Thank you,

Anthony.

[Wendell De Guzman]

Tony, I've done some deals and have done wholesaling, buy-fix-flip, lease options, straight rental properties, & land acquisition. I have not bought a commercial property yet (like strip mall or warehouse). If I have to start over and have $7K to spend, here's how I will invest it:

1. Invest it in good books, audio CDs and a real estate seminar on quick turn real estate ( I made $10K on my first deal after reading Ron Legrand's $19 book) and MARKETING. Investing in yourself is where you will get the highest return on investment. However, do NOT go crazy on this and make the gurus rich. Spend a few hundred bucks or at the most $1K because a lot of the information I got from the gurus 10 years ago are information you can now get for free here in BP or in other websites (even Youtube videos). So you're luckier than me because you can get yourself educated at a fraction of what I spent. Nevertheless, invest in yourself.

2. If you have done #1 above, you will learn how to buy properties with no money down and make money from them in a matter of a few months, even a few weeks. I would then spend $300-$1000 on marketing so you can get sellers to call you with houses they need to sell.

3. Since you don't have a lot of cash sitting around, focus on wholesaling first. You need to build your buyers' database so spend a few bucks on gas and network with real estate people in your area. Talk to other wholesalers, rehabbers, landlords, real estate agents, mortgage brokers, title companies, etc. Learn your market and find out who the players are in your market.

4. Work with a good agent and make offers on houses. Now that you know what your buyers are looking for, then focus on acquiring those properties. You can also focus your marketing to acquire properties your buyers are looking for.

Then wholesale houses and make that quick $3K, $5K or $10K. My smallest wholesale deal, I made $3K. My biggest wholesale deal, I made $20K. But if you can focus on wholesaling and really make it into a business, you can buy and sell 1-2 houses a month or even 1-2 houses a week.

But, do NOT buy fancy cars with the money your wholesaling business will generate. Instead, buy some rental properties with it. Bottomline, you do not have to spend your $7K in any real estate deal. Instead, invest in yourself (to learn) and in a real estate wholesaling business which in turn will help you generate the money to invest in real estate.