Direction

There are so many different ways to make money in real estate. SO many.  So if you're new to it (or even been at it for a little while), the question I have heard, in one form or another, most often is "Which way do I go?"  Sometimes it's overwhelming trying to go "a mile wide and inch deep" or "an inch wide and mile deep".  

"Should I focus only on learning everything there is to know about Lease Options, and ignore the white noise?"

"Or should I strive to maintain a working knowledge of all the major real estate investment vehicles, so that I can turn all leads I come across into deals?" 

"DOESN'T SOMEONE HAVE A SYSTEM I CAN REPLICATE?!" :)

I don't know about you, but this is a topic I've definitely gone back and forth on. If I had a gun to my head, I'd say that a hybrid strategy of being at least novice in the major niches while honing in strong on 1 would be the most efficient. But that's just my opinion. You'd need that bare foundational understanding of the other niches to know which fits your market the best, of course. It wouldn't help much if you decided you are destined to be the new reigning king of REO's in Bismarck, ND, as you would find that they have the fewest per capita foreclosures in the nation (1.3%). Or perhaps you want to go more traditional with the rentals in Ventura County, CA - only to find their cost to rent vs. buy is -36%!

If you are anything like me, then it would stand to reason that most of us aren't SME's in all-things-all-niches. Which of course means we can all learn from each other. Back in the Marines we did something we called a hip-pocket class. One of the Marines would be the guy that knows all things about ____ , and would put together a down and dirty, no BS, nuts and bolts of ____ class for the rest of the platoon. And this would rotate, with individuals being assigned or "voluntold" to study up on a particular "niche". It worked, and we all benefited (grunts and moans notwithstanding).

I am very well aware of the vast amount of information I stand to learn from EACH one of you, so call this a selfish post. I want to extract that knowledge muhahahaha!!!! No seriously, I think we could all benefit by this exercise. I am new to BP, so I don't have everyone's "thing" figured out yet. It seems like there's a fairly commensurate percentage here with what I've come across in the field. Probably around 55% wholesalers or aspiring, 15% Flippers, 10% Rentals, 5% Commercial, and the last 15% reserved for the notes, mobile homes, tax liens, REITs etc.

Me, I dig REO's. I didn't fall into that by happenstance, either. I really believed (and still do) that flipping, wholesaling, or renting (let's call it acquiring) REO's is a true win/win/win/win. I get to make boatloads of money. A rehabber has a new project to make good money on (you may or may not be aware that something to the tune of 85% of bank owned properties are rehabs by the time they are processed, though somewhat market dependent). An end user (retail buyer or cash investor) gets a great deal on a property that is also now tenable. The bank can now lend to at least 3 new borrowers for getting that single SFR off the books, which of course means more money for them. Heck, the economy wins. The foreclosure that's been sitting on Smith St for over 2 years now - rotting, weeds as tall as a small child, holding everyone else's properties hostage - is now fixed, owned, and no longer an anomalous Achilles heel. Anyway, I could go on, but this is already about 4 paragraphs longer than originally intended.

A niche I am pretty weak on is short sales, but I am interested in learning more about them. I can also see how knowledge of a short sale could fit into my REO model very nicely. But I already knew what I don't know, and what I want to learn.

What I REALLY want to know is:

What niche is YOUR baby? And what niche are you most intrigued to learn about???