Should I take a course in multi-family modelling before investing

[Collin Borns]

Hello everyone,

I am curious if people recommend taking a course such as REFM or a BIWS course before investing in multi-family real estate.  Alot of the gurus seem to say all you need to know is income and expenses, but coming from an institutional investment consulting background I feel as if that is way to basic for me to justify the valuations.  Has anyone taken any type of Multi-family valuation course they would recommend before diving into an investment?

Thanks!

[Andrew Johnson]

@Collin Borns I wouldn't worry.  Build your spreadsheet, do an analysis on something that looks interesting, screenshot it and post it on BiggerPockets and let the community mock and castigate you :)  

But, really, it's not a bad idea. And I'd also posit that a general rule of thumb is that if you analyze 5 deals and they all look great to you...well...you're missing something. It's hard to find a good deal and if it seems easy (as a newbie) most of the time you're either really optimistic about rent potential or are missing things like paying water for 10-units because you're used to tenants in an SFR paying utilities.