Breaking into real estate

[Ricky Lopez]

Hello to all BiggerPocket members,

I am a little nervous about this first post and a little bit out of my comfort zone, but one thing I have heard so far from people and the podcast is that I need to step out of it, to do anything in this business.So here it goes.

I have recently drawn interest in this business, from watching my father, who is a real estate agent, and have been gathering as much knowledge as I can , from learning the vocabulary terms, speaking with a few real estate agents and most recently have discovered the BiggerPockets forums. I want to find my niche, but keep seeing so many different directions to go. The area I currently reside in (renting) is about to grow exponentially, with large businesses coming, and I would like to jump on this opportunity. What is the best way of understanding your market?

The most promising way I have heard for myself is the buy and hold. My plan would be to find a reasonably priced house,maybe a foreclosure for under 70,000 and fix it up for maybe two years.

I have saved up a just under $5000, but I do not understand how you post your down payment with out draining your entire bank account and still find finances to fix some of these houses. Another problem I have seen is that a few houses I have looked at have been put under contract the same day I view them. I'm guessing this is a quick moving business and you must have your ducks in a row and ready to go.

Feedback on any of these questions would be great. I am excited about learning this business and I hope to be posting on here a lot more about my continuing education and experiences.

Ricky Lopez