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Hi Dave, and welcome to Biggerpockets, there is so much help to be found here, sometimes I am lost without reading the messages people put on here. I know how confusing, tiring, and STRESSFUL it is to start in real estate, especially investing in RE. However, there are ways to get the answers you need. One is to join sites like this, two is to try and land an internship or seek out someone to mentor you. That is a very good way to get started. However, that can be easier said than done. I am going to tell you this, if you want to know how I got my start and have purchased my first house in only 5 months in the bus. (and trust me, i am no better off than any wage earning American), I would love to share some secrets I have found with you. Email me at [email protected]

I wish you the very best of luck and look forward to sharing ideas with you to further us all in our goal of becoming wealthy.

Chris

Mike,

That is good advice that Juzajedi offered you, and he is right on the money with ways to analyze, however, there are worksheets. Most investment books, I.E. "Investing for Dummies" has one, and so do most of the more technical books. So just look them up at Borders or soemthing. However, do remember this.....

Negative Cash Flow can serve a VERY useful purpose if you plan for it properly. You can have an investment that gives negative cash flow daily, if you are in the property for the equity, not the cash flow. IN that respect you need to plan carefully and know what you are getting into, and have some research on the market you are looking at to know if the ROI from the equity is enough or worth it to you to have a neg. cf property. I know many investors that it seems only buy properties like that, because they are buying on equity, not cash flow.

Anyways, just a thought, hope it helps and if you want to kow more, let me know how I can help.

Chris

Hello Kenny,

Welcome to Biggerpockets. This site has helped me in so many ways it i hard to list enough to give it justice. Anyways I hope you find the answers you are seeking, and if there is anything I can help you with please, let me know and I will try my best to assist you. Oh, one little secret, I found a company that offers some FREE real estate investing classes, there I have learned everything from how to work and handle loans, to the process of selling/buying RE properties, all for FREE. if your interested in knowing more about that, let me know and I will be more than happy to pass the information on to you.

Cheers,
Chris

Hello Donovan,

Welcome to the most useful and helpful tool I have found in the So. Cal area for investment ideas, thoughts, and help. There are truly thousands of people just like us that have no clue where to start, myself being relatively new to real estate investing also. Like Jay, i have found help in enumerous categories in relation to the properties I am buying and working on, etc. I encourage you to ask around, there is an answer to almost everything, and everyone here seems to shoot pretty much straight from the hip. So that is comforting to know. I have however, also come accross some VERY big news for new investors, I found a place that offers FREE, yes FREE investment training classess every week. If your interested in knowing more, i encourage you to email me privately.... [email protected]. Well, I wish you the very best of luck and look forward to speaking/working with you soon. Have a great day.

Chris

I am a new real estate investor and the next area I am looking at buyinga property is in Houston. I was wondering if you knew any good places to search the Houston area other than the MLS or someone to speak with to help me with this. The reasoning is I have a good constant flow of renters set up out there for an investment peoperty, so I am working on building some relationships in that area. Any help you can offer me is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely
Chris

Hello and welcome Crystal,

My name is Chris and I am a new investor also. I got my start in March and just this weekend closed on my first investment. It takes a lot of time and very careful thought to find what you want. My advice is to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible. Then analyze what you want to gain from the investment (i.e.--cash flow, equity, both, or just a place to live) and then move on to the research of the surrounding areas. But bottom line....you just have to do it!! GET IN!! I found that to be the hardest part. You have to at one point stop researching/worrying/wondering and just do it. I wish you the best of luck. I also know a lot of places to look for information on your new investment, having just started myself and also being an agent too. Let me know if I can help.

Chris,

Sounds like you are in a very similar situation I was about 5 months ago. I wanted to get in the market, wanted to get licensed, etc. So I finaly got off my *** and did just that. The advice you have recieved is very good advice......going to work for a real estate agency, etc., maybe interning there. However, why should you just intern and not get paid, when you can get paid while you learn and get FREE real estate investing classes as well. If you are interested in knowing more, please send me an email to [email protected]. I would love to give you some ideas as to where I got my start and what it has done for me so far. Hope I can help, good luck to you.

Chris

Well, seems like you have all had a certain level of the "realtor" way of doing business. Let me put it to you simply, the reason that most of them act that way or treat you with little respect when you are trying to buy a property, especially a lower cost one, is the simple idea of GREED. They want their commissions, and have lost sight of some of the ideas people can come up with to take a lesser piece of real estate and turn it inot a very lucrative one. My best advice, is to find realtors out there that are WANTING to make you happy and get the best thing for YOU, not them. I know it sounds far-fetched, but that is what I do for a living and I know that there are more like me out there.