New to real estate, many questions

[Sean Bodolay]

I'm new to investing and looking buy and hold multi family property. I am an electrician by trade and been in construction 25 years. I would like to speak to an agent, lender and am willing to pay for consultation as to collect data but not be rushed to purchase. 

[Scott E.]

If I were in your shoes this is how I would start:

-Call a dozen real estate agents. Explain to them what you are looking to do (what area are you planning to invest, what price point, etc etc). After about a dozen conversations, hone in on 2-3 that you really connected with and who understand your goals. Get set up on MLS emails from them, and ask that they call you with off market deals when they come.

 -Call 3 lenders. Explain to them what you are looking to do. Answer whatever questions they have. Offer up income documents when required. Don't have them pull your credit, but be prepared to share your credit score and monthly debts.

 -Find a local mentor. With you being in the business, you may know some active investors already. If you don't, track them down. Ask those real estate agents if they know anybody, call multi family property managers, etc. But you want to find some people with some years under their belt. Take them to coffee, pick their brain, and be a sponge.

Contrary to what some people think, at some point you absolutely need to pay for information. There is a lot of free information in the forums here and in the podcast, but it will take you months to sort through it all. Whether you pay $30 for a couple of books from amazon, $300 for somebody's course, or $500 for some personal consulting, that could be money well spent to streamline your learning (it also could be money wasted if it's paid to a fake guru.. keyword fake).

Whatever you decide to do, just start immersing yourself in this starting today. Be active on the forums, listen to the podcasts, ask a ton of questions, and start building a network locally. You'll get in your first multi family property soon.