@Gregg Pauly Hey Greg! Welcome to BP! I'm a little late to the discussion, but better late than never right!? :) I can relate on several levels to your post above. I am a newbie and have been educating myself since 2008 when flipping was skyrocketing! I too fall in the analysis paralysis category and will be taking the next step very soon. With that being said, I got involved in the "Armando Montelogo" educating program. I saw people pulling from their Retirement plans and 401K's 10-30,000 to get one of his mentors and go on a bus trip to "do a flip". Now I didn't go as far as the large investment to hire a "phone mentor" or go on a bus trip, but I did spend a couple hundred on his weekend course and CD's and workbooks. Although a lot of reviews speak negatively of his system, I have learned so much from those CD's and workbooks that I feel it was well worth the 200.00 investment. He takes you from start to finish on Foundation, Find, Fund, Fix, Flip. Replaying those CD's (yes CD's..lol) and reading the workbooks were great....but when I discovered BP a couple weeks ago I was just in awe of the amount of information and the networking opportunities you are privy to for FREE! I felt like I ran into a secret goldmine! I listened to podcast all day last weekend while doing some house cleaning and I listened to one from 2013 (valuable information is never outdated). He said find a mentor that you can work with or shadow and learn from and in exchange you need to figure out how you can bring value to them. So while he spoke of working with a mentor (not a Guru that charges thousands) he was talking about an exchange of services. So how do you bring value to a mentor you ask? Great question....bring him Starbucks every morning!!! Just kidding....You either bring money or you bring deals. As a newbie, Investors want to see that we are eager and invested in learning from them, so we need to take the necessary steps to show we indeed have something to offer! As I mentioned I've been educating since 2008...since that timeframe I've learned that having a real estate license is imperative to what I am trying to do, so I took the necessary steps to obtain that. I feel as though I now have something to offer investors, I can find the deals, provide comps, write contracts etc! I agree with everything suggested above as far as the podcasts, webinars and networking with all the fabulous folks here on BP, but my two cents which has been so helpful to me is...invest in obtaining your license which will help you with your own deals, there are so many benefits to being licensed, you don't have to wait on a realtor to send you properties, gives you a much greater sense of market familiarity, you are privy to speak with all vendors involved in the transaction etc! The real estate classes, testing and licensure is far less expensive than what that coach was trying to aggressively manipulate you into, and benefits you in so many ways! Keep educating and gaining knowledge, stay excited about RE and I look forward to seeing your success story in the near future. Take care and Happy Investing!
