Often times those who enter the alt lending space wind up with novices as their customer base with poorly located collateral and limited experience.  

@Michael ChavisAs a novice investor venturing into the real estate realm, immersing yourself in a community of like-minded individuals is paramount.

I recommend starting with a turkey or light-value add deal first for any novice or intermediate investor investing out of state.

This isn't the quickest and easiest way to go from a novice to an expert, but it is how many great real estate investors started.

You have to give to take.This isn't the quickest and easiest way to go from a novice to an expert, but it is how many great real estate investors started.

There are also a couple dozen regulars and another couple dozen novices, some of whom wandered over from the bank foreclosure auctions happening on the other end of the courthouse steps.How can you prepare for the auction?

@Mica MooreBefore you decide to self-manage or hire a property manager, you need to understand what goes into managing rental properties.A novice investor may see a rental property as a simple equation of: rental income - (mortgage + expenses) = profit.While this formula is the basic mantra for an investor, you also need to include your landlord duties and energy into that equation.

People have been saying the same about our market, but there is plenty of opportunity here, especially now that the novices are scared away. 

Their Fortunebuilders company is the same model as Trump University, meaning they take advantage of novice investors masterfully.

I hope that novice investors on BiggerPockets stay far away from this type of deal.