BiggerPockets

What a Newbie Investor Should Do

Tuesday, February 09

A newbie investor approached me, "Trace, I want to succeed in real estate investing. What should I do?

Instead of telling him to go out and buy all the books he can find about real estate investing, I told him to network with as many investors as possible. I told him the money in real estate investing is made from relationships. Yes, you can make money from one time deals but the more you can think win-win and long term relationships, the more money you're going to make. 

This newbie investor has no money, bad credit and so buy-and-hold strategies jus won't work for him right now. I told him to focus on wholesaling and become good at finding good deals. Moreover, since he is broke he does not even have the money to buy some bandit signs or do some marketing. I told him to do the following:

1) check out Craigslist for properties being sold by other wholesalers. I told him to help these wholesalers sell their properties for them;

2) check out Meetup.com and join all the groups in 3 cities about real estate investing. Start networking with the members and try to find out who the "players" are in the market - who are the ones still buying houses or properties right now. If there's a match between what other wholesalers are selling and what these real buyers are looking for, then you can structure deals where you get paid a fee for doing so.

Does this advice make sense to you? These are the two things I would do if I am just starting out.

Comments

1. 

   Clifton Jones Reply
   about 2 years ago

   One other thing is to find a mentor that can help in his area. He needs to make sure the mentor is successful in his chosen field and then utilize the mentor and his knowledge as much as possible. Once he and his mentor agree that the knowledge is there (and his business is making money), only then should he think about diversifying to other niches in real estate.

   The next thing is to actually get out and work the business. Knowledge is great, but without action, it means nothing. I would rather have a clueless apprentice that will bust their rear doing what I teach, than a PhD that won't take action. The clueless apprentice will become set for life, while the PhD will whine about his income, while questioning everything he is being taught.

2. 

   Trace Trajano Reply
   about 2 years ago

   I agree with you Clifton Jones!

   Get a Good Mentor + Massive Action = Massive Profits

3. 

   Francine Y. Reply
   almost 2 years ago

   Hi Trace,I'm Francine Iv been a BirdDog for other investors for a little over a year. Iv been told that if I don't have the Capital to find a cash partner to cover the cost of the flip. Is that better than a Loan and why?

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