Greetings fellow investors!

[Kris Klark]

Hi everyone!  I am completely new to real estate investment and am  eager to learn as much as possible.   I have a fair amount of experience in construction, landscaping, negotiations and business management.  I hope to utilize the skills that I possess while continuously building upon what I know to become a successful full time investor within the next three years.

[Michael Lee]

Hello and welcome to BP!  Your experience in dealing with people should help you.  I am. 60 years old and I usually say way too much to newbies but I cannot help myself.  There much to learn for real estate investoreally who take learning seriously.  I found this website about 19 months ago and spending about 10 to 12 hours a day (7 days a week) while while I'd was medically recovering I learned a bunch of stuff and I still do not know it all.  The time I have spent on getting better than I orinally thougt after experiencing my injury has been quite eye-opening.

What I originally thought it would take about 6 months to recover it has been just over 6 years allready.  I was lucky that I experienced my injury at home and my wife has much to do with my survival and I cannot thank her enough.  My wife is very frugal and has been saving money for about 25 years and still thinks she is broke even-though she's saved  about 300,000 she still thinks she is broke.  We have one daughter and she is in her third year at the University of Arkansas and my wife takes care of us all without going into long term debt and has not touched her savings.  She is a computer programmer and makes a decent salary and her boss has been very cool and only expects her in the office for 1/2 a day and she works at home the other 1/2 day.  He pays her a full time salary.

I could keep On bragging about my life but I'll wait until later to tell you more about my life. Learning is a for-life thing so prepare yourself for that learning more about what you do and how to read financial statements and planning. There is a few things for you to do after you select your niche and market area, one of those thing is forming some type of corporation or a LLC. You might have to hire an attorney, and/or a CPA, and/or a tax consultant to advise you on the best way to go. That will help you kept your personal things seperated from your business which sometimes facing legal charges.

Another thing you might do, if necessary, find out which lender offers you a good deal.  The lender can/will get you a loan letter that states the average time they will spend on your loan closing and the maximum amount you qualified for,  A copy of that can be back up for your offers and might make them (the owner) more comfortable with your ability to close.  One other thing you should consider is your new company's new business.  Just make sure it is convenient and has minimal distractions.  You can locate your new office in your living place as long as you can close it off and has minimum of personal or other distractions.

Try tor stay a under control of everything you are responsible for.  Do not trust those people who have not earned that right from you yet,  Eventualy learn how to create systems that you could turn over to other people and makes you more income productive, especially those things that are not directly associated with income.

You do not know what the future holds so prepare yourself for that.  My father has been buying and selling properties for about 45 years (mostly commercial) and he has taught me a little bit.  Track the income and expenses you are responsible for in report form for you and have a few people to review them regularly and possibly save on expenses and increase the income.  Do not assume that things you do not control will happen correctly.  Do not try to do everything yourself.  Do not cut any corners to make something look better on paper than it actually is. 

Always, in the begining especially, do math anaysis and try to look at the prospective properties before you make an offer or at least have a clause in the purchase contract to allow you some upfront time (usually 10 to 15 days) to make a detailed inspection and possibly back out of the deal without a penalty that hurts you too much.  Find/Get a local and experienced Team of professional members that are willing to help you and return your phone calls promptly.  The primary Team members are typically Attornies/Lawyers, real estate Agents/Brokers, CPA's (or accountants you trust), Building Inspectors, Property Managers, General Contractors, and Handymen.

  Good luck to you!