Need recommendation for beginner real estate investing books/material
Real Estate Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2011 · 1 post · 0 votes
Hi everyone, I'm new to investing and very interested in learning about buying and holding, and lease options on single family homes, and also on setting up a legal entity as a real estate investor. Does anyone have any recommendations on up-to-date material and resources I can begin learning without having to spend hundreds of dollars on education. I live in southern California, but will probably be doing most of my investing in Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, and Georgia. :lol:
Wow, that's a lot of tactical information covering a lot of geography.
I would suggest this:
Define as clearly as possible what you NEED and/or WANT. You seem all rev'd up, but until you focus in on what you actually need and want- you really won't know which way to go with real estate investing.
There are TWO main paths, and successful investors usually follow both:
1. Rental / Transactional income-- comes from rents, and "doing deals" to generate quick cash. It's a job. Landlording, and exploiting opportunities. You do the job, you get paid. It's how almost everyone gets started, and how many have continued to generate a nice living for years.
2. Wealth creation. Wealth in real estate comes from leverage, and appreciation. This comes from buying in appreciating markets (and there are many- even now), using leverage to magnify ROI. This is where ultra-successful investors create legacy wealth.
Of course the best of both worlds is where you want to be, and it's relatively SIMPLE, though it's NOT necessarily easy.
This is something I learned the hard way, but once I learned it- my business took off: There's a single master-skill to do both: analysis. Some will warn you that you don't want "analysis paralysis" and you need to "just do it" and "get started"-- and while there's some merit to that, the vast majority of people who have "analysis paralysis" really just have plain old paralysis-- they aren't doing ANYTHING.
Through research and analysis, your objective should be to discover opportunities that others aren't necessarily seeing. Then you can carefully "shop" those opportunities-- getting people to pay you for the research. You don't necessarily want to be an unlicensed realtor / broker - "Bird Dog", you want to sell opportunity, not broker transactions.
I'd be happy to discuss this method-- employed by my company for years with great success-- in detail if you'd like to speak-- you can pm me and I'd love to chat.
And full disclosure- I'm NOT a "coach" or "consultant" and I have NOTHING for sale, and this isn't an attempt to sell anything. My selfish motivation quite simply is to grow my network, and specifically I'm seeking "human intelligence" in markets all over the country to do what I've described above.
Hi Tess!
If you're just starting out, I believe that Gary Keller's "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" could provide a great overview of the buy and hold mindset. I know there are many more good books and hopefully others will chime in.
Tess: There are a lot of great books, but it sounds like you will be using property managers in your out of town areas. My guess is they will be doing most of the work for you. I would get in touch with the REIA groups in those areas and find some active investors there. I would find out from them who are the best local property managers, who are the best wholesalers, and where people are and are not investing. Don't let someone sell you something over the phone. You need to visit your markets, see the properties, and get to know your property managers. If I were you, I would pick one market to start in. That way you can see what hurdles you are going to have when investing out of town. Then, once you know what you are up against, you can make a better decision about adding more territories.
Regards,
Doug
Tes, I suggest you go to the library and see what you can pick up there for free.
Then I suggest you get a good foundation for your realestate business by reading college level text books, yes they are dry, but filled with needed information that you won't find in any guru book or program.
Read the forums and ask questions before you dive into some program. Check with a local REI Club and find a local mentor, not someone on the internet.
In the past, I have given advice very similar to what Bill has just given. Here is a thread that will point you to lots of reading:
Wow, that's a lot of tactical information covering a lot of geography.
I would suggest this:
Define as clearly as possible what you NEED and/or WANT. You seem all rev'd up, but until you focus in on what you actually need and want- you really won't know which way to go with real estate investing.
There are TWO main paths, and successful investors usually follow both:
1. Rental / Transactional income-- comes from rents, and "doing deals" to generate quick cash. It's a job. Landlording, and exploiting opportunities. You do the job, you get paid. It's how almost everyone gets started, and how many have continued to generate a nice living for years.
2. Wealth creation. Wealth in real estate comes from leverage, and appreciation. This comes from buying in appreciating markets (and there are many- even now), using leverage to magnify ROI. This is where ultra-successful investors create legacy wealth.
Of course the best of both worlds is where you want to be, and it's relatively SIMPLE, though it's NOT necessarily easy.
This is something I learned the hard way, but once I learned it- my business took off: There's a single master-skill to do both: analysis. Some will warn you that you don't want "analysis paralysis" and you need to "just do it" and "get started"-- and while there's some merit to that, the vast majority of people who have "analysis paralysis" really just have plain old paralysis-- they aren't doing ANYTHING.
Through research and analysis, your objective should be to discover opportunities that others aren't necessarily seeing. Then you can carefully "shop" those opportunities-- getting people to pay you for the research. You don't necessarily want to be an unlicensed realtor / broker - "Bird Dog", you want to sell opportunity, not broker transactions.
I'd be happy to discuss this method-- employed by my company for years with great success-- in detail if you'd like to speak-- you can pm me and I'd love to chat.
And full disclosure- I'm NOT a "coach" or "consultant" and I have NOTHING for sale, and this isn't an attempt to sell anything. My selfish motivation quite simply is to grow my network, and specifically I'm seeking "human intelligence" in markets all over the country to do what I've described above.