How long did it take you to get your first deal?

Question

So I am new to the real estate investing game, and my journey started back in June. That's when I first read Rich Dad Poor Dad, and then joined BP later that month. Since then I have read multiple books, my favorite so far is the Millionaire Real Estate Investor, and been soaking up as much information as possible. I have also partnered with a real estate agent, and have been looking at properties.

• My question to the BP Community is how long did it take you before you bought your first property?
• What contributed to that timeline?
• Looking back is there one thing you wish you would have changed before buying your first property?

Brian Dickerson · Answer

Became interested in REI last August, read RDPD soon after and a couple other books, but I really learned the most from BP forums and podcasts.  We got our first 3 units back in June.  They were mostly turn key.  Looking back, I would have done BRRRR strategy from the beginning because those first 2 properties used up a good chunk of money for conventional loan down payments which we cannot access anymore.   Moving forward we are looking to do BRRRR deals - I think we were too afraid of the rehab initially.

Thomas S. · Answer

Took me about a year. Studied my butt off on finances, real estate, income properties, landlord tenant regulations etc. Got my finances in order, met with my financial advisor, analysed the sh*t  out of the market. At 8 months I was ready to start the search.

As with most if I had it to do over I would have started it much younger. Other than that I would have done nothing different.

My advice to others is if you have not memorised your state landlord tenant regulations you are not prepared to be a rental property landlord. If you do not know the codes, whether you self manage or use a PM, you are absolutely not qualified to be a rental property owner.

KJ L. · Answer

Hey Tristan, welcome to the community.

• My question to the BP Community is how long did it take you before you bought your first property? We're in Los Angeles proper and it took us 9 months to find our duplex in LA - that includes the time we started searching for a property to the time we closed on our first property. 
• What contributed to that timeline? We were searching from 2017 to 2018 and the market was (and still is) pretty hot in LA. We're competing against cash buyers, dealing with properties that have rent control and inherited tenants, and we had a few rejected offers. We would spend weekends snaking neighborhoods and looking for open houses (because agents would try to double end the listing and they'd have open houses before listing the property on the MLS). It took a lot of time but it was worth the wait in the end.  
• Looking back is there one thing you wish you would have changed before buying your first property? Uh... I wish we were in the market to buy properties in LA back in 2009-2011 instead of 2017-2018 lol but I would've been fresh out of college then with no REI funds. I do wish we would've started our eviction process and renovations a lot sooner, I dont know why we waited as long as we did.  Hindsight is 20/20.

Good luck!

Lane Kawaoka · Answer

@Tristan Colborg

• My question to the BP Community is how long did it take you before you bought your first property? I was an accidental landlord in 2009
• What contributed to that timeline? I realized that there was a delta in the rental income and what I paid for PITI.
• Looking back is there one thing you wish you would have changed before buying your first property? Talk to other engineers or high networth investors to see what they do

Sharie Jackson · Answer

I'd say it was a little over a year till we found our "forever" 1st deal.

We started researching the possibilities of purchasing a 2-4 flat and househacking on Biggerpockets in July 2015. We found a few deals that fell through in negotiation or after inspections and then finally we found our current duplex in August 2016. We did a 203k rehab on this as well.

I don't think we would have done much different aside from starting 20 years ago. I'd say having a great contractor that truely understands what a full 203k rehab is. We wasted about 3 months finding and vetting our new contractor & getting a great architect for the major structural changes.

Was this process a trial by fire? Yes...but it is also the best decision we ever made!  Now we are planning to acquire another property. And another...and another!

How long did it take you to get your first deal?

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