BiggerPockets

Hi,
My name is Daniel Westman, I´m a 21 year old currently studying economics at Umeå School of Business and Economics in northern Sweden. I´ve always been interested in investing, I bought my first stocks when I was around 12-13 years old. I´ve been daydreaming alot about my future dream home and I often draw it up on paper(It has a new look every time:roll: ). Sometimes when I drive around town and see an ugly building I can think "That would be an awesome place for one of my kick-ass buildings!" and I get these visions about what I would like to build there. That has probably caused my growing interest in Real Estate, which combined with my interest in investing lead me to this forum! :cool:

I´m thinking of taking some extra classes next semester. At my university they have two beginner courses. 'Introduction to Real Estate Management' and 'Building Technology for Real Estate Brookers'. I just hope I can fit them into my schedule.

This forum is packed with great info, but I´ve also been looking to buy some books on real estate investing. Have any recommendations?

I just ordered 'How I Turned $1,000 into Five Million in Real Estate in My Spare Time' by William Nickerson. I´ve read reviews that says this is a great book, even though it´s old. Has anyone here read it?

I´m also waiting for the new edition of the book 'Investing in Real Estate' by Gary W. Eldred to come out. The 5th edition has good reviews on Amazon. Any opinions on this one?

I know some of the stuff in these books may not apply to the real estate market in Sweden. Here in Sweden the rental market is heavily regulated. An apartment in an A+ location in the middle of Stockholm costs as much as an equivalent apartment in an A+ location in a small town. But hopefully the market will become unregulated in the near future. My bet is that it will.

I´m saving up for my first down payment now. It will probably take a couple of years considering I'll not finish my studies until 2012. I have $5865 so far, but I´m getting there!

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and tell my story. I hope to learn alot from you guys and gals :D

Thanks for the welcome, Joshua! This seems like a great forum with lots of helpful people that knows what they're doing.

When I gratuate from college in 3 years I´ll have my downpayment for my first house. So I have a lot of time to learn the tricks of the trade. I've already learned tons of interesting stuff from reading articles and browsing around the forum!

I understand this is mainly an american forum. Are there many international members too?

Daniel - We do have a small international contingent, but most are focused on real estate here in the states.

Welcome to BP Daniel. I am currently reading "How I turned $1000 into five million in real estate in my spare time'' by William Nickerson also. So far it is a very good book. I have some distant relatives in Sweden that my family keeps in touch with. Good luck to you and it is great to see someone start investing at such a young age.