Hey Bret Rubash I think everyone that has commented on your post have great points and suggestions, but take it from someone who has been in your exact financial situation minus the debt. You don't need $1,000 let alone tens of thousands to get started. Everything that I've accomplished so far has only cost me time. There's no perfect way to start out with real estate investing, but I definitely understand your angle. You're tired of the 9-5 and the rat race that comes with working for someone else. You've read or watched videos about REI, and you want to jump in and change your financial situation. That's why we're all in this game. I've never been to a seminar or Meetup, nor have I spent thousands of dollars on marketing. I've educated myself with free materials such as YouTube videos, podcasts, e-books etc.. you have to jump in and start with the basics. The main and hardest thing for me starting out was knowing how to asses properties values, repair estimates and know what to say to sellers or listing agents. The only way I learned was by jumping in with the limited information I gathered and learned what to do and say and what not to do and say along the way. I used zillow to find properties in my area, and in the key words box I typed in "motivated" and that'll bring up all the homes in your area that are being sold by motivated sellers and just negotiate with them. You have to know your numbers first though. A simple formula I use is ARV(After Repair Value) X 60% that's how you calculate how much you should offer on a property. I gather my ARV numbers from at least 5 similar properties that have been fixed up and sold in the past 5 months with 0.8 miles of the property you're interested in. We call the data we gather from those properties comps. If you have any other questions please feel free to message me and we can speak personally. I'd gladly share all the information I have with you for free.
