Wheaton, IL · Member since 2013 · 19 posts · 3 votes
Good afternoon everyone. I currently have no RE investment and I'm probably around a year away from being in the position to make my first purchase. I was wondering what kind of classes and certifications you would recommend?
There is a local community college that offers courses ranging from home inspections, appraisals, brokering, etc. if you we're starting over what would you do? Thanks everyone!
Around here there are various organizations that put on classes for a variety of topics. Many of these classes are just a couple of hours and are held at rec centers or community colleges. Public libraries and rec centers have racks with the pamphlets for the courses. I took a couple of these early on, one on investing and another on property management. There's usually a certain amount of pitching involved, though.
REIAs (real estate investing association) meetings can be helpful, too. Some of these are VERY pitchy with national gurus mostly focused on selling their expensive coursework and programs. But they are a way to meet people and maybe get some pointers.
I'd recommend going to the library and picking up a few books on real estate investing. Don't worry about exactly which, just read a few and you'll get the bulk of the concepts. Despite what the gurus try to convince you of, there are no new concepts and this isn't a particular complex business.
Start with RE text books, like the Principles of Real Estate. Get a text book used by RE agents in school to test for thier license. Then read the stuff as an overview. Good luck :)
I'm currently looking to join some REI groups and have been reading as much as I can. I thought taking some classes to better understand appraisals, inspections, etc. could be helpful. Thanks for all the tips so far!