Where do I start????

[Parker Odoms]

I am from the Richmond\Chesterfield area, and looking to get into Wholesaling. With so much information where does one start. I start real estate school next month as I figured this would give me a foundation, but what I am really looking for is a mentor. I am willing to give my blood, sweat, and tears to learn the in's and out's from someone with the PROPER knowledge willing to teach. Working a 9-5 is not cutting now nor will it allow me and my family security in this unpredictable future. Thank you for your time in reading my post, and any REAL help is appreciated.

[Michael Lee]

Hello and welcome to this website, I have been kind (not real seriously) looking for a Mentor is very difficult and I think you will maybe find one at a local REI club or event that is not sales based. You should have allready found out there is many things to learn on this website. I agree that there is a lot on YouTube and here are many people that are publishing their favorite books. There is so much Is on this site including the podcasts, blogs, and forums. There is a man that you have not connected to yet, his name is Lance Edwards and he preaches that you can start off with no experience with small apartment complexes. He started off while working at a regular job for a couple of years that he did not like very much and after a couple years he was able to quit his regular job and only work on apartment complexes and he made a ton of money doing that. I think he is now in Houston Texas.

I have been pretty much self-employed since 1988 except with a couple of older men that knew me.  I have been in the construction business since I was 17 including those college years.  I am 60 now and pretty much stuck at home now and not walking any for about 6 years I had an unexpected brain anuerism and a stoke when I was 54.  In a lot of ways I have been pretty lucky and married to a frugal woman that has been saving money for about 25 years and can send our daughter to college without taking on debt.  Eventhough that has cost $6,000 a semester just in tuition plus her aprtment and other things. My wife is a computer programmer that makes decent money.  Her boss has been real cool and only expects her to come in the office for 1/2 day and the other 1/2 is spent at home and he pays her like a full time salary and has full benefits.

My daughter now is in her 3rd year at The University of Arkansas and is almost making straight "A"'s.  Since she is about 6 hours from her right outside of the City of Dallas Texas where I was born and her parents live in Dallas County in a suburb city.  My wife and I are pretty lucky that we paid for our mortgage with a home improvment loan and we still owe about 28K on it and it has 2.99 interest and our payments are just over $300 per month.  My Doctor had been saying good things about my health.  My Chiropracter told me to get MRI on my head.  Well he could not have been more right and I was scheduled to repair my anuerism 2 days before I was scheduled the worst could have happened.

An injury I thought would keep me down for about 6 months has taken 6 years and I still cannot walk but I am slowly getting better.  Before my injury because of my schedule was flexible enough so I could be around my daughter as she grew up until she was a sophomore in high school.  Luckily, she was in the high school band and benefited by it and it's instructor.   I will tell you some more next time so let's get back to you.  I held a real estate broker license for about 30 years but I never did that full time.  I had to renew my license 2 years and did not do the networking like I should have.  I definitely benefitted by the classes i had to take.  So do not forget to use networking when you take those classes. You never know who you will meet.  

There are a few things you should consider important before you start investing and after you have made your selections of a niche and your market area. One of those things is to form some type of a corporation or a LLC. That should keep your personal things seperated if there is a legal item against your company. You might need to hire an attorney and/or a CPA to advise you on which form you ought to do. Another thing to consider is to get your financing figured out and get a loan letter from them that states the average loan closing time and the maximum amount you qualified for. Another thing you might consider doing is lofting your office space that is convient for you and a minimum of distractions. You can locate your office in your living space as long as you can close it off and no distractions that are personal.

  When you are first few investments, try to keep them simple and renovate them in an average way for that neighberhood.  It really matter which niche you select just know that some are short term and some are long term.  It matters what your goals are and it is OK to do two of them that complements each other.  Track (by writing) everything you do and review that regularly with the hope of reducing your expenses and possibly increasing your income.  I am sorry that this is so long but I have a bunch to say.  Always remember to do a math anaysis on your prospective properties and try to look at them before you make an offer or at least have a clause in the sales contract that allows you some time (10 to 15 days) to make a detailed inspection of the subject property and possibly back out of the deal without a penalty that will hurt you too much.  Having control of the things you are responsible for is one of the keys to getting what you want.  

I have a bunch more to say that. If ht be helpful to you but I will keep this communication shorter.  Feel free to contact me if you need anything that you think I can help you with through BP.  I do not have much experience in real estate activities but I do have some.  Be careful on the Internet with people trying to make people's money with emotion on stuff they do not even need.

Good luck to you!