New to real estate investment

[Kimberly Lu]

I'm new to BiggerPockets and well, heck, to all of real estate investing.  I've been educating myself by reading a lot of books.  I'm interested in purchasing single-family properties as a rental investments.  I have a lot of money invested in the stock market, and I'm doing pretty well, but I know the party may be coming to end, so I'm looking at alternatives.  I'm new and yes, I'm scared to take the plunge because this is unfamiliar territory for me.  Could you please share with me your first-time experience?  I need encouragement to just do it.  I'm also finding that homes in my target neighborhood, where I think people would want to rent bc of good schools, for example, are so expensive.  After doing the math, I'm not too sure I can swing a positive cash flow.  Any advice?

[Shawnda Velador]

Welcome to the wonderful world of real estate! Even if you have money to purchase, you may want to start out by wholesaling (finding a property you think is a deal, and reselling the contract to purchase the property to another investor).

This method is usually marketed to people who don't have $ to invest on their own, but it is the best education you can get. I started out that way, and found things I thought were a good deal actually weren't. Fortunately, I didn't have any money in them, so it was a free learning experience. You can make between $3k - $100 per deal you resell, so it

I wholesaled 3-4 houses before I purchased my first rental, which I still have 5 years later. It has been a great little property. I only make about $175/mo on it, but I've never had to put anything into it. I wholesaled a few more, learned a bunch more, and my next rental netted me $380/mo.

Some markets are harder to find properties that cashflow. Wholesaling can help you find what strategies that work in your market.

Word of caution, there are risks, even with wholesaling, and strategies to help make you successful. Hopefully someone at your local REIA can show you how to protect yourself against the risk and set yourself up to be successful.

If not, courses on wholesaling are plentiful and fairly inexpensive.