Am I the only one struggling? Real Estate advice please!!!

[Nadine Delille]

Hello everyone, I need some advice please. I have been struggling to get into real estate investing. I've been reading a lot of articles, watching videos joined different real estate investor sites such as BP. Everywhere I look people make it sound so easy, but it is not at all especially if you don't have a lot of funds to invest. I spent money on programs to train me, been to meet ups for networking and still nothing. Initially I was starting with wholesaling b/c I have minimal to no funds to get started. So, I worked with some real estate agents to find distressed properties, found some cash buyers but still got no where, more so because the agents I worked with that claimed to be investor friendly knew nothing about wholesaling . Then I thought about rehabbing properties but not enough funds. When things didn't go as planned, I became discouraged and stopped trying for a while. After some time, I am back at it again because I am not going to give up! I just need help and some guaidance. I plan on moving out of my parents house and have been thinking about starting off with rentals or "house hacking" but I am unsure if that is the route to go.? Any experts or those that have struggled initially can you please share your experience and advice on what I should do to get the ball rolling. I really want to succeed in real estate investing. P.S. I am saving money too.

[Account Closed]

I'll be honest, I've had a pretty stressful time of it too lately. I have a great realtor, who understands investment property and to my knowledge exists solely in this space. We just cannot find the right deal.  It's frustrating, you want to throw the baby out with the bath water after each failed deal only to realize that changing at every obstacle is also not wise.

There are two things I already knew, but are worth mentioning. Well three.

1. Nothing is easy. Especially when you're learning. After ten years as a property manger I know a lot, but there is so much more to learn. Yes, at the end of the day money may have come through simple deliverable processes, but I doubt I'd ever call them easy. You have to understand that mistakes will be made and have planned accordingly.

2. Nice....and Business are not words that need to go together. Your realtor is either right for you or not right. Nice, good people skills, well connected, whatever....those don't matter if they don't understand what you're looking for. Friend, acquaintance, recommended by a friend...NOPE! Investment focused realtor or move on.

3. Personal analysis. There are million get rich quick videos on the internet. Some folks have copied those videos and made a fortune. Most have failed because of their work ethic. It's cliche, but the damn truth. If you're not willing to put in the work, then you need to find something else to do. Raising/Saving capital is a part of that. Making the connections, meeting quality contacts, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT....are all a part of that. It's very easy to read a website, but until you're truly sacrificing something to save capital, you're not really committed to this.

Number 3 is the hardest. Probably what makes my wife and I bicker more than anything in our marriage. The self reflection...you have to be able to say "Yeah, I suck at that."