Grant Cardone says "Don't buy real estate on a budget"

[Damon D.]

Still very new to the game, but I'm starting to look around for multifamily / small apartment properties. I'm not advanced enough yet to try to cobble together a deal with other investors (at least, I don't think I am) so I am of course doing backwards math here, saying "well, I can invest X amount of dollar, so that means I should be looking for roughly (X)5 priced properties considering a 20% down payment." 

Is this really the wrong way to think? My instinct is that this is the actual, logical way to go about doing the early math: figure out what you can afford and try to find the best deal within that range.

Am I doing it wrong? 

[Jerry W.]

@Damon D., it is easy to say only do million dollar deals when you are a millionaire but the reality is that you can only do the deals you can afford.  It would be very unwise to invest other peoples money when you don't have the experience and reserves to do it safely.  The advice of each investor you read about is usually tailored to those in their position.  The mindset of someone with $500 in the bank and someone who has $5,000,000 in the bank is very different.