Excited to start my real estate journey

[Eugene Choe]

Hi BP community, 

Long term lurker and newbie here. After a couple years of analysis paralysis, I have finally decided to take the plunge and invest in at least 1 property before the end of 2020.

I found bigger pockets through Choose FI, a financial freedom podcast, and have been hooked after listening to my first episode.

For my first property, I would ideally like to invest in a multi family or single family in either Baltimore City or county.

The tenants I'm targeting are students and young professionals.

I have worked with several real estate agents, but they either do not seem to know a lot about investing, or do not have enough time to even accommodate me to my requested showings.

To the more experienced investors in the Baltimore area:

Can anybody make any recommendations for smaller real estate investor meetups for 50 or less people?

I'm excited to start this journey, and to continue learning about real estate investing!

Eugene

[Solomon Morris]

@Eugene Choe First off, welcome to BP.  You'll find the network here in maryland to be strong and extremely attentive to questions here in the forums.  

I remember the feeling of realtors not taking me seriously prior to doing my first deal.  Some tips that may help you:

1. Get pre-approved prior to engaging a realtor.  I feel like this is critical if you are trying to establish a new relationship with a realtor and show that you are serious.  Presenting this letter to a realtor speaks to your willingness take unprompted action on your own and will give the agent an idea of your budget

2. Have established investment criteria to present to a realtor (i.e know what you are looking for).  There are many investors that simply do not know what they want.  There are numerous factors that come to play regarding real estate: single family, multifamily, condo, location, price range, square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, construction type, access to highway, proximity to schools, nightlife, amenities etc.  establish your criteria and convey that to your agent.

"I'm looking for a 3/2 inside the city limits withing a 2 mile radius of "X" landmark at this price"

The more specific the better

3. Seek programs which provide incentives to both you and the agent to get a deal done.  I feel this is not brought up enough.  2 out of my 3 deals have been through a real estate program my bank (USAA) runs to provide a top notch agent to fill my need.  Essentially, they are somewhat obligated to do what they can to make you happy. This will keep them eligible to remain part of the program which funnels potential buyers their direction.  The program I'm in also provides a monetary kickback to me when I close!  The amount i'll receive is just dependent on the property sale price.  Check with your bank to see if this is something they can help you with.

Good luck