Overwhelmed (and a bit confused) by all the info ...

[Udele Tagoe]

Hello all,

Hoping for some honest advice here. Very glad to have learned of this group. I have just started my education in REI (~ 3 months) and am eager to do a deal. I am, however, feeling overwhelmed by the many widely varying opinions on the best way for a newbie to start, especially on a part time basis while working a full time job (sometimes >60 hrs/week). I ultimately would like to have large buy and hold commercial portfolio, but I would like to generate cash to be able to pay down some debt and to be able to fund such deals in the near future. I thought starting out with wholesaling would be a great way to do this (listened to several Wholesaling Inc Podcasts on this) and get comfortable with real life deal analysis/presentation, but then heard from a long time investor that it is unlikely with my time constraints that I would be able to put the time necessary into marketing and searching for good deals. They suggested just going ahead and doing a rehab instead, possibly with a property management team. Even though doing a rehab would net a higher profit, I personally thought that doing a rehab right off the bat would be a bit much for me just starting out because of my limited knowledge and because I don't have the time to oversee such a project right now. The idea of a property management team to oversee the project sounds like a good idea, but I also don't want to dilute my learning/understanding by leaving much of the oversight to someone else. One thing that is clear is that no education will beat the one I will get from just jumping in and doing it. Question is, which "it" makes the most sense for a newbie in my particular circumstance? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks in advance.

[Josh C.]

I learned the most by buying a cheap house, fixing, and renting. If it's not for you there are always buyers for these properties. Get a good agent that deals with investors and get this a a PM that can tell good areas.

At the end of the day you need at least one of the following: Time, money, experience. If you don't have any it will be very tough. After a while you have all three.