NOOB here! I look forward to growing and learning from you all.

[Bernard Cultess]

Hello everyone! I'm a noob to the site and I'm looking forward to learning as much as I can here. 

So, what brings me here or how did I stumble on BiggerPockets? Well, real simple. My cousins and I recently brought up the idea of flipping. We're all spread out up and down the East coast, so there were a bunch of questions of how, where and when, when it came to flipping real estate.  I googled 'Investing in Real Estate' and this pdf from BiggerPockets was in the top 10 listings. Kudos BiggerPockets to your SEO team. Job well done!

This is how I came across the site. I started reading the pdf 'The Ultimate Beginners Guide...', currently in the middle of Ch 5 and said, what can I lose if I sign up on the site. I would probably gain more than I would lose, right?

Anyway, after reading Ch 3 and learning that investing in REITs was a thing, I said 'Shoot, I can do that and build up my portfolio!'

I did a search for REIT and pretty much read through all of the posts and articles and they were all informative, but not really finding the answers that I was looking for. Seemed like the majority of what I read were, I'm not going to say negative, but more like "BEWARE" of REITs. I've done a bit of research on them and they don't seem so bad to me. Just like any stock I have but offers a bit more dividend than I can ask for. I am not complaining.

There was one post that really stood out for me and I must thank Ms. Kimberly Dawson for her post - (How do you invest in REITs? Are they safe? Pros and cons? Where to find the best?). Without her post, I would not have found Mr. Angelo Behar. His answers/responses brought light to the matter, to me. 'This guy knows what he's talking about', is what I said to myself. Vanguard, I completely forgot about and their index funds. I've been looking at REITs on an individual level, forgetting that there are companies like Vanguard out there offering funds with multiple REITs. Awesome sauce.

I say all of this to say that REITs are so bad. Like any stock, you have to do your research. Know what you're getting into and take a leap out on faith and go for it. The best teacher is experience.

So this is my focus right now or as the book says, my niche. Somewhere down the line, I'll be looking at flipping, buying and holding and possibly wholesaling. Ooooo, I can't wait.