I am currently in the central Florida area and looking to get started in real estate. I am looking at trying to get into as many areas of investing as I can. I am looking for any knowledge to help me start out and do things correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Christopher,

I am a true real estate generalist, I do a little bit of everything.  When you start, you really need to settle into a single area of real estate and master that area.  The other avenues of real estate will quite literally fall into your lap as you work on that first mastery.  I usually suggest that people start with wholesaling.  At its core, wholesaling is the act of buying at price A and selling at a higher price.  The reality of real estate is that you will succeed at whatever type of real estate excites you the most.  It is sort of like picking a favorite flavor of ice cream, nobody can ever tell you that your favorite flavor is wrong.  The added bonus is that the more an area of real estate excites you, the easier it will be for you to study and master.  I personally love creative finance and marketing, so those are my two strongest areas, those two areas also play well into flipping, commercial, and every other aspect of real estate. 

to your future success

Josh

@Christopher Hockenberry Welcome to BP and the investment game. I think you are in the right place, and there is a LOT to learn. For someone who is just started to learn, and not quite ready to actually invest, you will save yourself thousands of dollars, and possibly years of time, if you take a little while (a few months - time depends on you and your dedication) to learn before you jump in. Here is where I'd start:

0. Start saving money, living frugally, and read Rich Dad Poor Dad, if you haven't already.

1. Listen to the Podcasts. Every minute of your car ride, lunch, you name it, USE this time to associate with very successful investors and pick their brains - this is what the BP Podcasts do. Start with  the latest and just work your way back through all 270 of them. 

2. Keep a list of what book recommendations you hear repeated in the famous four, or search this site for book lists and start buying and reading!

3. I would try to connect with a few local real estate agent/brokers and a good property management person who already work with investors. I would question them specifically about what types of investment they see happening in your local area (flipping, buy-and-hold, whole-sale-ing, ) and where most deals come from. 

4. Go to your local meet up and ASK QUESTIONS! Meet folks who are doing it and ask them what they are doing, why, and how they started. You may also ask if there is anything you could help them with that they don't like to do. 

5. As @Josh Caldwell mentioned, there a lots of areas to get into. You need to choose one, at some point, and just dive deep into that area for a little while until your comfortable enough to get started. 

Best of luck to you. Real Estate is a long game that will need a lot of work and learning. Mentally prepare for that.

As previous posters have mentioned when first starting out focus is key, but I would actually recommend not starting out with wholesaling, it is extremely difficult and most of the time you put hundreds-thousands of dollars into direct mail with no guarantee of a return.  Buy and hold is probably the easiest place to start if everything you are learning is new.