I used to cold call, skip trace, send mailers, and don't get me wrong you will get success from it like James above, however as you gain experience you will realize you need deals faster, easier, cheaper, and with more "meat on the bones" and in order to have that you need constant deals flowing through your eco system and that's hard to do with mailers, cold calls, VA's and skip tracing etc.

Nobody ever went broke over a duplex, I know this now,  but I have to admit I had some serious doubts about this when I started 16 years ago, I bought every course I could find, already on CD's, this was post cassette tapes lol, and I paid RichDad Education for a one year coaching program (turned out my coach was a girl in a call center without any actual experience). 

As a beginner investor based in the Seattle metro area, I'm eager to learn from your experiences and share my journey as I get started in this field.My current strategy is to focus on live-and-flip for the first three deals (looking for my second deal) to gain hands-on experience while building equity and learning the ins and outs of renovation and the local market. 

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

I manage around 400 rentals with 14 years of experience and have never been sued once.

There is so substitute for experience.

But my experience over the last 10 years of building new homes is that NOTHING comes down might stay the same but will rise almost annually Like Cement always goes up in Jan. 

At this time the primary goal is passive income and then scale within 5 years as I gain more experience and network. 

How to Start Investing in Real Estate in 2025 (ZERO Experience)Good luck, Tyler! 

These groups are goldmines for finding mentors, reliable vendors, and other investors to learn from.Property ManagementChoosing the right property management company can make or break your experience.