Is this advice accurate?

[William Sullivan]

After speaking with several real estate professionals, and one in particular, I’ve collected a few controversial ideas and beliefs. I don’t have enough experience to determine whether or not these are accurate assessments of the market, and I’d love to get your opinion:

1. There’s no such thing as a hidden gem anymore now that we have the internet.

2. If you renovate, you’ll end up spending the entire purchase price again just in repairs.

3. It’s better to save money now and wait for the market to turn.

4. I suggest you do FHA even if you cannot actually live in the property.

5. There are no holes in the market. It’s so saturated that there’s no room for a competitive advantage.

[Jim K.]

1. I disagree. There are plenty of hidden gems out there and will be as long as there are plenty of people in real estate who know next to nothing about houses.

2. I REALLY disagree. An experienced flipper with a trusted crew that he keeps in work month after monh can indeed leverage that experience into getting a good price on repairs and make money. A newbie, on the other had, would really have to be extraordinarily lucky.

3. Maybe in some parts of the country, like Boston, but not in others like where I live.

4. This is fraud.

5. If you have the skills to create a competitive advantage, you will enjoy one. Those skills might be a thorough understanding of a niche market, a very good understanding of construction technology, or many contacts in the real estate industry as a whole. But getting into this with minimum understanding of how certain things work will put you at a severe disadvantage.