Good Evening All,After years of sitting on the sidelines wishing to be in the game, we made a decision to get involved and close on our first investment property this week.

Recent college graduate really do not want to wait 1.5 years on the side lines. 

I keep hearing advice about not standing on the sidelines so I'd love to ask about more about your market-timing strategies if any.

Did you get even one deal, or did you continue to play on the sidelines; allowing fear of the unknown and fear of loss to stop you?

I have been mostly on the sidelines of BP watching and learning while growing an interior design/home staging business.

Tuscaloosa,Selma, Montgomery and Valley Grande are just a few. in towns like Uniontown which are more rural it is not my goal to make these my sole markets, it is just one of the places to start and eventhough the property values are lower in such towns the margins are there as well as investor friendly mayors that are seeking the assistance of outside influences to help them make their towns more attractive to companies that create jobs by opening busiensses in these areas. the thing that i bring to the table is my ability to provide the financing for the conventional and fha buyers as well as by and sell the notes for the seller held transactions in addittoin to the contractors, plumber,electricians and such that i have on the sidelines.

Sounds like keeping the money at home on the sidelines is a better choice if that is all there is to buy.Make sure your source for price comps is accurate.If you do not want to pay for an appraisal right away there are brokers/agents that perform BPO's     ( broker price opinions) that are third parties not involved in the transaction.

Still I have this passion for real estate that burns within me and I was unwilling to sit on the sidelines and wait.

So, a few more years passed, I continued to observe the real estate market from the sidelines.

I sat on the sidelines for 10 years and always wanted to wait for the time to be right.