If you happen to watch cable or satellite television on the weekends, you can find between 20 and 30 channels early in the day with get rich quick infomercials hawking everything from books, tapes, seminars and even personal coaching services. Most are centered around real estate and I am not sure they are worth the time it would take you to order them by phone. I have spent thousands of dollars on real estate home study courses through the years and will continue into the future. I am always looking to further my education and understanding of what is really working in the investment real estate world.
Because of the time, energy and dollars that I have spent in the past, I have a pretty good idea of what a real estate investor wants to avoid as well as the best steps to take for a successful start. Education definitely plays a role in the success of a real estate investor as well as business savvy, attitude and at times, luck!
Here are a few detailed steps that an investor can take to improve the chances for success.
- Learn the basics of real estate in general.
As with any investment strategy or business, real estate comes with its’ very own lingo. There are terms and phrases that many of us have heard in the past, yet may not know the exact meaning. It is very important from the get go to do the research and learn the basics such as the meaning of the terms and phrases that are used in the real estate industry every day. You can start by using a search engine and searching the phrase “real estate definitions”.
- Begin home study education.
There are great benefits to home study and I do not mean the courses we eluded to on weekend cable T.V. At your local library, in the real estate investing section, there will be multiple titles recently written by authors with experience in their topic. Check out as many titles as you can read in a week and o to work reading. Write down sentences and topics that come up in the books that interest you and that fit into your reasoning for starting to invest in real estate. This will be the start of your plan for getting started.
- Develop a game plan.
By this point, you have an idea of the general terms and phrases for the property investing world and have begun to grow your interest and understanding of the specific strategies for real estate investing. It is time to formally develop your plan and start taking action. Each of the real estate investing books that you will be reading give specific advice about team building. It is a crucial step for your success and the best books offer advice about who to put on your team, where to find them and how important they are to your over-all success. Before you can start investing, you must have a plan for where you are going and how you are going to get there.
- Join local organizations for investors.
In every city, county and state there are multiple organizations whose missions are to assist real estate investors. Each of these organizations holds monthly meetings and some of the best even hold weekly meetings, where investors can network and learn. These meetings are crucial to a beginner investor because they offer the opportunity to build your team with experienced members. They also are fantastic groups to attend for tips, tricks and education. Join a group close to you and make your attendance mandatory. Attend as many meetings as possible each month. Often times, the simple step of surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals who are positive and re-enforce your determination to succeed, can have the biggest benefit on your future success.
- Find partners & Do not fall for get rich quick!
One mistake that is easy to make in the beginning is to set off on the path of “go it alone”. Another is to believe that just around the corner is a pot of gold if I can just find a deal like those guys on T.V.! One thing that is seldom talked about is the fact that most real estate investors have used partnerships in the past if they are not using them now. Partnerships are a great way to spread the risk of investing while learning the ropes. Those risks include using less of your available capital, credit and time. Partnerships can also be structured to be a simple 50/50 partnership splitting all costs and profits or a slightly more complicated partnership with one partner providing money and the other providing the deals, follow through and managing the investments. Either way, going it alone can be a lonely, long and expensive way to get started investing.