BiggerPockets

Greetings from a recent graduate from UCLA. I am going to be working soon and I am planning to invest in real estate. That means putting a side of my paycheck every month for investing. My goal is to build financial wealth. Enough so I can do my own things without worrying about money - such as teaching, starting a business, or simply just spending more time with family.

A little about my experience with RE. I have no knowledge in real estate investing. But I have started reading a book on real estate investing. There is so much information out there that I don't know which ones are reliable and trustworthy. Especially after visiting John T. Reed's website (http://johntreed.com/Reedgururating.html).

So what I am looking for here is guidance - a light of truth through the fog of marketing and bad advice.

Currently I am still in Los Angeles, CA, but I will be moving to Seattle, Washington in a few months. What I am hoping to do is hopefully find and network with real estate investors who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise.

If you are in Washington I would gladly appreciate it if we can network over a cup of coffee.

Any for everyone, I wish good luck in their endeavors.

Thanks,

Ray

Hello Ray, welcome to BP. I'm in the Seattle area and would be happy to Talk and have a cup of coffee.

I think you will find that BP has alot of valuable information and resources. Spend some time reading and getting to know other investors here. There is a lot of opportunity to get started on the right foot.

Thanks everybody for the greetings.
I am looking forward to meeting everyone.
I'll be for sure to contact you after I settle down a bit in Seattle.

Thanks Realtyman for the advice. MHP sounds kind of exotic to me right now. But that's because I'm uninformed. Maybe after looking around the site I may get interested in it.

I have considered starting out by buying and holding single family homes because that sounds the most traditional and straight forward. So hopefully it is the easiest market to get started in for a newcomer.

Thanks for the greetings again,
Ray

Charles hit the nail on the head by advising you to read - learn as much as you can from others mistakes. Our first rental we paid cash for and later wished we had instead put the money into 4 4-plexes for better income. The library is the poor mans college and has a lot available. With the internet now - sites like this one provide you with a wealth of self-education all for free! Will be interested to hear about your first experience with your investing in rentals!

In January 1982 we bought our first rental home for $44K cash. Later we thought it would have been better and our funds would have grown faster if we had put $10K down for each of 4 different 4-plexes. The cash flow from 16 units at $375-$400/mo each unit versus $500/mo from one house would have been a much better deal. Hindsight is always clear as to what you "coulda-woulda-shoulda" done! That first house and the second house gave us the down payment we needed to later buy a 27-unit apartment building so things did not work out all bad - there is a silver lining to this particular cloud!

Another instance of hindsight being very clear is as follows: In 1986-1991 Colorado Springs, CO was named the "Foreclosure Capital of the World" and was talked about on 60 minutes. I had an opportunity to pick up 13 homes at $15K each. The whole street was vacant. I could see some profit, but thought about how hard it would be to get tenants for a whole street of homes sitting vacant. I did not do the deal and then watching home sales that are published weekly in the local paper, I saw that 2-years later these same homes were selling for $108-$110K each.

Never let your negative thoughts psyche you out of what you instinctively know is a GREAT DEAL!