Beginner REI Enthusiast in DFW

[Jack Grove]

Howdy! To start I would like to give a little background information on myself. I recently graduated from Texas A&M and am working full time in the construction industry. During my time at school, I befriended two other like-minded guys and together we have discussed the idea of dipping our feet into real estate investment and maybe one day starting a development company. We are currently in the process of furthering our knowledge before we make any big moves. More specifically, we are researching what market we want to begin investing in and determining the type of financing we need to acquire. 

I have listened to many podcasts and spent the last year or so periodically reading about REI online, but I figured it was time I began interacting with the community and receive some helpful feedback/constructive criticism. Below are a couple of questions that come to mind:

1). How can we accurately perform a market analysis to ensure we are investing in the correct locations? I understand the basics of looking at Zillow and Trulia and identifying the median home prices in specific areas and understanding the statistics behind the community, i.e schools, crime, growth, etc. But is this just the tip of the iceberg, or is that basically what market analysis consists of? 

2). Tips and recommendations on where to begin searching? I feel like north Dallas (Between Plano and Van Alstytene, and McKinney and Frisco) is a fast-growing area and has buy and hold potential, but I am not sure how well the flipping opportunities are within this geographical constraint. 

3). What is the best source of financing for three beginners? Obviously, our combined income could obtain us a decent loan with a down payment on a house, but for multiple properties, I am not sure how well we would fare. I know we can swing our construction experience into our resumes but besides that, the lack of experience will likely hurt us. Unless we can acquire all of our financings from PMLs, I imagine that financing will be our biggest hurdle. 

We are eager to learn and look forward to any and all advice. Please PM me if you have any further questions or thoughts.