Investor friendly DMV REA

[Erik E.]

Hey DMV!

I have been doing a lot of research and learning about REI in my free time and am quickly becoming more and more interested in all of the different aspects. I am looking to network in the DMV area with realtors to learn markets and gathering different points of view on strategies, concepts, etc. If anyone could provide a referral or speak up if you're interested in lending a guiding hand, please do!

Thanks,

Erik

[Lenzy Ruffin]

Welcome, @Erik E.. You might want to try refining your networking request a bit. It sounds like you're enthusiastic about learning real estate, but that's not going to motivate anybody to invest their time to talk to you, especially if you're at ground zero in terms of your real estate knowledge. If you haven't identified what niche (just one, not two or three, just one) you want to pursue in real estate (target market, marketing strategy, exit strategies), you'll probably have a hard time finding someone to talk to you. What return can those folks expect to receive for their time investment? That's how the folks you want to talk to look at things, and that's the way you should, too. We all start out feeling just like you feel right now and the overwhelming majority of people quit. So the people you want to talk to are not excited about spending time with a new person who wants to learn real estate. 

My two cents on how you should proceed is as follows:

1) Read the Ultimate Beginner's Guide ebook that they give you when you sign up here on BP. Learn the different ways to invest and figure out which ONE you want to pursue.

2) Listen to BP podcasts that focus on that one niche you chose and the guest speaker will tell you exactly what you need to do to start marketing to generate leads.

3) Read "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" and "The ONE Thing" both by Gary Keller. The ONE Thing will teach you how to most effectively and efficiently execute the strategies that you learn from the podcasts.

4) Find a local REIA and network there, too.

5) Be consistent. Once you identify a niche, a market, and a strategy, you have to execute your strategy on a weekly/daily basis until it pays off. Don't expect to make any money your first year. You might make money, but don't expect to. Anybody who tells you otherwise very likely has a program or system to sell you. This business boils down to lead generation (getting somebody who has a property you want to buy to call you) and building a lead generation system requires consistent action over a long period of time. You can't try a new strategy every month or every quarter. Pick a podcast where somebody outlines a process that you know you can commit to following for a year and do that.

Once you've figured out what you want to invest in, where, and how, and you have a track record of taking some action, you'll probably find it easier to get people to network with you. But you gotta do all that initial education and market research, etc. on your own, man. You're going to have a really hard time finding somebody who is willing to invest time in talking to you about those things. 

Also, this isn't advice coming from a seasoned veteran investor, so take it for what it is. I'm just a sophomore sharing some insights with a freshman. Good luck, man.