Barriers to Entry Increasing for Rookie Real Estate Investors?

[Evan Swanson]

Over the the episodes from the past two weeks, David from the BiggerPockets podcast has brought up that real estate will be harder and harder to from the "small guy" to get into each year due to factors like: inflation, hedge funds being hyperactive in the market, the lack of supply and high demand causing an increasingly competitive market, real estate being a more attractive investment for our current economic condition, etc... 

I have just started to learn about real estate investing in the past three months. Most likely, I won't be buying real estate until three years down the road. However, I have a sense of FOMO after listening to these podcasts and am discouraged to hear that less opportunity will await in the future. 

What do you all think? Will finding a deal be more difficult every year for new investors? Of course, there's always a deal to be found, but I'm interested to hear overall thoughts on this idea. 

[Steve Vaughan]

Originally posted by @Evan Swanson:

Over the the episodes from the past two weeks, David from the BiggerPockets podcast has brought up that real estate will be harder and harder to from the "small guy" to get into each year due to factors like: inflation, hedge funds being hyperactive in the market, the lack of supply and high demand causing an increasingly competitive market, real estate being a more attractive investment for our current economic condition, etc... 

I have just started to learn about real estate investing in the past three months. Most likely, I won't be buying real estate until three years down the road. However, I have a sense of FOMO after listening to these podcasts and am discouraged to hear that less opportunity will await in the future. 

What do you all think? Will finding a deal be more difficult every year for new investors? Of course, there's always a deal to be found, but I'm interested to hear overall thoughts on this idea. 

I haven't listened to the podcast in quite a while,  so didn't hear this episode, but I would say it is way simpler to buy properties as an informed person, just harder to find value. 

Education and data are available freely for anybody that wants to put in the time. REI is sexy again, so more people want to do it and we all have access to basically the same information, chasing the same limited inventory.

I see and hear a lot about acquiring doors and possibly adding value with upgrades or adding rooms, but not much about buying value.  

All of my purchases except a couple have been off-market,  directly with sellers.  Lean and quick, no extra mouths that have to be fed.

While you save and learn, drive for dollars (tired plexes are my favorite) and talk to garage sale holders and ask if they're planning to move.  40% or so are future sellers or tenants leaving.   Off-market is the main way I find value.