First Deal in Your RE Journey

[Keith Chang]

Hello people! Beginner here. What is your first deal, how did you find it and what did you offer? (Just want to  know what are the common ways of looking for deals and how offers are made)

[Michael Hyun]

hey Keith, if I was just starting out, what I would do is:
1. Go to Redfin and make a "Saved Search" with filters on what type of home you think you might want to buy. 
2. Every day, just look through this search and start looking at the listings - familiarize yourself with the market. How much are homes - what features make a home more popular than others? How long are homes on the market? What's the difference between homes that sell in one week vs the homes that sell in one month? 

Eventually, you'll develop an idea of what a home is worth in your area. When you see a home that looks pretty nice - not a perfect home (you'll be stuck forever if youre looking for perfect) - then tell your agent to write an offer. Based on what you've seen, you should be able to write an offer.

That's what I did in Joshua Tree CA in October 2020. I bought a home there for 225k a 2b/1ba. I noticed it had a super nice backyard with a Joshua Tree right smack in the middle and it had amazing views of the mountains. I put an offer immediately and got into contract. I went down there, worked during the day at my job (remote) and did renovations after work for about a month. 

I furnished it, then rented it on Airbnb. A year later, I sold the home for more than double and used that money to buy a home in the Bay Area.