I think you are quite wrong. Information and examples of real estate investing as presented on this forum, in all the books about investing in real estate, in real estate courses you can attend in college are for everyone who is interested in learning about real estate investing.
It appears to you as though it is geared toward young professionals because real estate investing as a profession in sophisticated and involves allot of knowledge and is further complicated because it is a regulated industry as real estate is considered and is a security.
There is allot of money involved in real estate. There are three things human beings cannot live with out. One is water, two is food, and three is shelter. You may argue that we cannot live without clothes. Granted that may be a fourth thing we cannot live without but our survival does not depend on it as much as the first three. Of course in Alaska you would certainly die if you did not have adequate clothing to protect you against the cold and likewise in extremely hot environments such as the desert.
Cars are certainly complicated, so are buildings and require architects to design them and engineers to assure the buildings will be safe. Streets are complicate and so are most municipal services, bridges etc. but then so is understanding stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, derivatives etc. etc.
Human beings are intelligent animals and most things in life require a certain level of intelligent understanding and sophistication in and of themselves.
Real estate involves doing transactions, using legal documents, reporting earnings, expenditures, taxes. However, all these things are very much a part of everyday life for any person living in a modern society and in a modern habitat.
Why would you think that a taxi driver would not desire to learn about real estate investing or a janitor or a house maid? The benefits are the same for anyone and everyone who embarks on making real estate investing a strategy to obtain long term wealth and saving for retirement as well as profiting as in any business could do so.
Why is this business being promoted? Why is any business promoted?
We need people to want to get into the business so they will buy memberships, attend meetings, buy our books, buy our cds, pay us to mentor them, be there to listen that we are offering everything free while all the time at every single opportunity let them know that if they want more, the real good stuff of course we have that too, at a price :)
You need cooperation, you need collaboration, you need financing, you need partners, you need every advantage you can get. You need information, you need education, you need to be advised about what areas of real estate investing involve the laws, regulations, government intervention and prohibition.
All this is needed by everyone so if you think that you are something special and that this forum is geared toward you because you are a young professional you are just very very mistaken. Its for everyone.
Have you really been listening to the advise on here but not just here in allot of other forums and books. If you do not have the money then partner up somehow before you attempt to make a deal. If you do not have money then you can try finding deals. If you are a little smart you will not get a house under contract until you know you have back up, do something until you do have the credit to get a good loan etc. etc.
Use your imagination to figure out what you can do until you do have the income, the credit or the money. I know a guy here where I live that does not have credit, or a good income to even a good education and he asked me to give him an idea. I saw he had a truck, a good one so I told him he could go around picking up cardboard and recycling it so he could start to put together a little money. He did that until he got the idea to offer his service to places that have allot of card board that pay someone to pick up the cardboard so not instead of paying someone to take their cardboard they give it to him and he does it free for them while all the time taking the cardboard and selling it at the recycle center. He is putting together about $1,000.00 a month now. The next thing he can do is start to use that extra $1,000.00/mo. is use it to start buying things on credit then build up good credit. Who knows how long it will take him but over time he should build up a good nest egg and have good credit. You see there are a million things you can do. Is he in his mid 20's? No. Is he a professional? No, But could you do this if you were in your mid 20's and were educated or had become a professional? Yes !
Its like anything. Listen, learn, prepare, take what you can use and never mind the rest. take what you can apply and go to work on it. The sooner the better but if your heart is not in it, and if you do not feel real estate investing is for you then put it down. At worse real estate investing will be just one thing more you understand a little.That is part of being an educated human being.
You hate promotion? Car dealers promote their car sales, make up manufacturers promote them miracle products, Pharmaceutical companies promote their medicines, everyone promotes something. Real estate investors promote real estate. Why? Because its in our best interest and because its what we are devoted to.
@Jay Hinrichs. is right and tells it like it is. Of all the people that will try real estate investing only a very few will become successful at it. Once people try it they will find out just how hard and unforgiving it can really be but for those that endure, are persistent, and lucky, believe me we are all lucky and have to be in order to go on in this business but you do your business based on know how, and real knowledge, capacity, abilities and the right set for the most part. Over the years you earn a reputation and build up trust and relationships so it appears to become easier but it never really is you just associate or partner with people you know have a proven track record.
We are trying to help people get started if nothing else with their very first deal. In this business you come to learn that you cannot put all your eggs in one basket and that you need to have several deals going. If you are lucky the majority of them will pay you and on some you will lose. No one I know in this business that has been doing this for several years makes out great on each and every deal. There are just too many variables and things will go wrong. The timing will be off or the market will change or simply you got a house no one wants to buy or no one wants to rent. I have had occasions where I have given houses away free just to get them off of my hands because they did not turn out to be a good investment just lucky I had others that did pay me well and I was able to keep going.
Take the Forex Market( the foreign exchange market) where people buy and sell currencies. That market is 3 Billion or is it trillions or so on a daily basis. There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people doing it every single day , day in and day out and from 95% to 99% will lose their money. Yes a very small percentage of people are successful at it, maybe a little as 1%.
The reality is the same in real estate investing. Of all those interested and of all those getting started only a small percentage of them will ever last longer than a few years and an even smaller percentage of those will make it over a life time of investing. However, that does not stop real estate investing from being a good deal, a good way to build wealth, and of generating a great passive or a full time income.
It is something you need to build up over the years so yes it makes very good sense if you get started early in your life like in your early to mid 20's. We are not saying its the perfect thing or an easy thing for young 20 something professionals. Are you saying you are you frustrated because we do not concentrate on all the pitfalls?, because we do not stress on the difficulties or dangers? You just hate people presenting only the positive aspects of real estate investing?
Keep up with the times, stay up on the news. There was a story here not long about about a man that lost over one billions dollars, others that have lost millions, and others that have lost their life savings, gone bankrupt, got themselves indebted for the rest of their life or for many years to come all doing real estate deals. Will it make you happy if we concentrate on that? I think we try to cover the basics of deal making and financing on here not telling people what to do after they are already millionaires of billionaires.
