Some great advice so far and difficult to not repeat in some fashion or another but I won’t let that stop me. My two cents on first starting out:
1. Continue to educate yourself: Michael Blank and Brandon Turner of Bigger Pockets (BP) both have easy-to-read content on the basics for beginners. The ABC’s of Real Estate Investing put out by Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad brand is another good one. Listen to tons and tons of podcasts! There are podcasts by BP, Joe Fairless, Michael Blank, Jake & Gino, Rich Dad Poor Dad, etc…the list goes on.
2. Get yourself out there: start attending local RE investment meet-up groups, surf the BP discussion forums, maybe go to a conference or two (Joe Fairless, BP, and Michael Blank all have annual events), tell everyone you know that you are getting into RE investing, etc. Find as many ways to network in the RE investment world that you can.
3. Identify a Market: First, learn how to select a market to invest in. Then pick one and learn it by driving it (look up “driving for dollars”), following it on LoopNet (free), looking up properties on Apartments.com (or the million other platforms that advertise units for lease), etc., etc. Basically learn everything you can about your market of choice. Also, if you choose a large or medium size market, you will probably want to narrow it down to a smaller subsection of that market (called a “submarket”).
4. Start Identifying your “team”: once you’ve identified the market, look for REI meet-ups in that area and attend. Start asking for referrals for property management companies, brokers, RE attorneys, RE Insurance agents, etc. You can also identify property management companies when driving for dollars. Take notes on whose managing properties and whose look the best (clean, well-kept, etc.). You can also identify brokers when scanning LoopNet and paying attention to who has the most listings in your market.
5. Find a Partner/Mentor: this goes hand-in-hand with #4. Mentors and-or potential partners can be found in the REI meet-ups, on BP, by attending seminars/conferences, and by a million different potential engagements I can’t think of or list all. Essentially, you must network as much as possible. Two notes on this topic. First, be very careful to not spend a whole lot of money on a professional mentor unless you research their operation (get references) and unless you will absolutely, 100% apply the lessons and methods learned. Otherwise you will either get taken, or you will end up wasting money that could have been better utilized. Second, when seeking to partner with someone, you MUST figure out a way to bring value to that person or group. For beginners this is tough but not undoable. The most common way a beginner can bring value is to either have relationships with people who have money to invest or somehow have relationships with owners of real estate. You bring or offer these relationships to the partnership. Always remember that REI has two main “arteries” – the money and the deals. You must be able to add value in one or both of these categories.
Best of Luck!
