What a great topic! I am still very new to RE investing as well. But I can say that there are two things that I've figured out thus far:
- Half the battle is facing your fear of jumping in
- Your team is key to your success
These are not new concepts, and are all over this site. Unfortunately, I did not know about BP when I bought my first home, or when I sold it. When I bought, it was very scary, as I was pretty much using money I had saved up for 10+ years and hoping nothing bad happened during or after closing. It definitely felt like a gamble. In addition, I have a very 'traditional' parent who kept telling me I had to have a husband to help me, otherwise I would never be able to afford to buy a home (I was very happy to prove him wrong.) I would compare it to skydiving....if you've never done it before, there will be people telling you how stupid it is and that they themselves would never do that, it will be scary because you don't actually know how you will feel the second you jump out of the plane. There are absolutely risks involved....but the chances you will actually die are pretty slim. And when you reach the ground in one piece, the pride and accomplishment you feel are pretty amazing.
As for building a team, sadly, since I had nothing to go off of my first time, I learned the hard way how important it is to thoroughly vet your agent (if you're working with one). When I bought my first property I had a woman who was taking me to showing that did not fit my criteria, and in the end, I ended up finding my own properties (I lost out on the first offer), she fought my lender half the way through my sale. Without going into more detail than that, it was a horrible experience, and I would never work with her or anyone from her agency again, nor would I recommend them. Now, when I went to sell, I spent an entire day interviewing agents and eventually narrowed it down to 2 amazing options (again, this was before I know of this amazing RE resource!) My experience as a seller was great, my agent understood my needs, helped me through the process, and was very honest and was quick to point out areas of concern when they surfaced (not after the fact.) I am moving out of the California market for the time being, but when it becomes more reasonable and affordable, I would 100% return to the same team. I also made sure to post several reviews online so that my positive experience could be shared with others. TALK to your potential team members, and make sure you guys are all in the same boat and that everyone in that boat knows the destination you are traveling to.
All personal opinions and experiences of course, but if I had the chance to do it over, I would have 'jumped' sooner, and I would have invested time into interviewing my real estate agent (as a buyer) BEFORE I signed on to work with them.
Looking forward to hearing what other say on this topic!
