All Forum Posts by: Derek Guyer

Welcome to biggerpockets. We hope to see you around a lot.

I have a very close friend who invested $5k in Pinnacle several months back and he received his check as promised. He immediately sent the new amount back to them and started over again. I asked him to come on here and comment when he was done and he must have forgotten. Be looking for mblaff. He's the only person I know who has done this and made money at it.

I'm calling him now to tell him to get on here and comment.

noobdog1,

I couldn't agree more. The books you suggested are great reads and the advice you offered is right on! Learn! Learn! Learn!

This site is more valuable than I think any of us will ever realize because there are not only great pieces of wisdom on it, but experienced investors to help coach you through the steps who will continue to share that wisdom. Take advantage of it all! After all, this is the Information Age.

I have personally never used them. After my first few glances over the leads on their sites, I realized that there were thousands of investors looking at those same leads and I couldn't imagine how many investors had picked over them before I even got to check them out.

I'd take the time to find a good birddog/realtor who can help you to locate properties. That's one of the most important parts of finding and assembling a good team. Check out this list that was put together about putting together your team:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2006/03/15/assembling-your-real-estate-investing-team/

Keepitreal,

That's a great attitude to have. You're right that our fear mechanism really begins to hold us back. The funny thing is that in this case, we're afraid of something that will help us, not hurt us.

Share what you're thinking. Ask tons of questions. And don't feel stupid. You have to start somewhere and this is a place to learn and as a result, hopefully invest well. We're all here to help each other, with the exception of a few spammer and self-promoters. So, don't be scared, "seek and you will find."

Good luck!

Welcome, randyrandall!We look forward to hearing all about what you've learned and accomplished.

One piece of advice: ask questions. There are a lot of intelligent and experienced individuals from every side of real estate on here and you can learn a lot and hopefully help as well.

Again, welcome to biggerpockets!

Rising Realty,

Welcome to biggerpockets. We're looking forward to hearing about your experiences, good or bad. It sounds like you've got a lot to offer and we hope you can help the whole community here with your experience.

Again, welcome to biggerpockets.

I think one of the most important things you can do to find good investors, is to not just show your properties to just anybody. Ask for references or a bank statement from then or something to show that they are serious. If they're willing to give you the information you request and it all checks out well, then you're set.

There's no need to waste time with people who can't and don't get it done. Know from the beginning you're dealing with professionals and business will fly. Don't be scared to do something different.

If you're going to birddog, you're going to need good networking skills. That's 90% of the job. Everyone you talk to can be a potential lead to a property or an investor, without overdoing it.

Someone knows someone who's losing their house. Someone else knows someone else who's looking for a good investment property in such and such area. And on and on...

Learning to listen and ask are key essentials to locating both properties and investors. But, I personally believe you start with the investors. Ask what they're looking for? How much do they want to spend? What kind of profit margin do they want? etc. Once you have someone to look for leads for, they're easier to find and more fun to find. To find investors, go to your local REI meeting and pay attention on here.

There's someone looking for something you can find, now figure out how to connect them.

That sounds like a good plan for the money you'll make from the property. It would be a good idea for you to start looking into how you will do that and where you will do that now. Study methods, get mentors, and build a team. If you don't have a team together when you get started, you will regret every minute of it.

Here's a link to a piece about Assembling You Team that Josh posted:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2006/03/15/assembling-your-real-estate-investing-team/