​Real Estate Investing 'Must Haves'. What do you have?

I was talking to some new investors at our Meetup group recently and they weren't exactly sure where to get started with their real estate investing careers.  They asked if they should buy rentals, flips or just wholesale?

I told them to first do an assessment on themselves of what they have access to.

You either must have: 

1) Access to capital (yours or someone else’s)

2) Access to time (availability to put in sweat equity and work)

3) Access to resources (find and know people to help you)

You don't need all of these above but to grow your business, you really need to find a way to have 2 of these 'must haves'.

I told this new investor that if he doesn't have access to money at this point, that's fine, but flipping properties and buying rentals is probably not best for him yet.  Not only because he doesn't have his own money, but because he doesn’t have access to other people's money, yet...  In the future maybe he will and that will work great.

I suggested that he concentrate on wholesaling for now because he has access to time and he's willing to put in some of the heavy lifting.  He also can get access to resources by attending events and maybe even fast tracking by finding a mentor.

I know a lot of successful investors that leverage what they currently have and it helps them grow into additional 'must haves'.

Some investors have money but no time or time but no money.   Others have neither time nor money BUT have resources to help them creatively structure a deal for others.  You can be successful with any combination.

Whatever your situation is,  be honest with your self assessment and strive to grow into additional 'must haves'.