Having trouble getting started...

[Maverik Eaton]

Hi! My name’s Maverik and I’m a 19 year old from California. I’ve been interested in investing for about 6 months now and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface in my Real Estate investing career.

After countless hours of reading and researching, I have a decent base knowledge but still no experience. I recently attended an event for net working but most investors and realtors wouldn’t even give me the time of day or decent advice. I’m a young kid so I can’t bring much to the table when it comes to buisness conversation.

Now instead of this discouraging me, I’m more motivated than ever to take the plunge and get started on my first deal... but I’m confused on a good starting point.

I will take any and all advice into consideration. I would love to hear about any experience that you wish you knew starting out, or any advice for a good place to start as an investor.

[Douglas Mcqueen]

Books are great resources, I read and continue to read a ton. that being said there are some things you will need to learn that you will not find in text.  the first being your market and the second being your niche.

What is your niche?  What part of the investment world is it that excites you.  Dial in on that and start there if its SF then start immersing yourself in SF, learn everything there is to know about it, how its valued, typical items to watch for etc... and then learn the language of that niche and the nuances.

Market, what market do you want to be in, drive the market and look at buildings research crime rates and vacancy talk to PM's in that market. Market knowledge is your secret sauce the more you know about your market, the key players the properties within the better positioned you will be to move.

When it comes to approaching other investors and agents, you have to build that relationship gradually, be involved in the networking events you attend and take part in conversations and try to add value, and soak it all in.  I have found 99% of folks involved in this business are more than willing to help and share what they know sometimes they just want to feel you out a bit and be sure they are not wasting their time.  Thats the best part about these forums is all the help you need is here and most everyone here is willing to help.  Whether they admit it or not they were all exactly where you are now at some point.

As for experience, I entered the business pretty late at just over 30, nd like you read just about everything i could get my hands on.  I spent a lot of time trying to figure out my first step and looked at a ton of properties, everything from SF to duplexes and tri's to store fronts and self storage.  What i found interested me the most was Multi-Family in the 5+ unit range, the relative safety is what initially attracted me to it and as I learned more about it it became my passion. It took me about a year or so to find the right folks to partner up with and it was off to the races from there.  Today i cant drive past an apartment building without trying to see the deal that lies within, i will pull off the highway if i spot a building i haven't seen before (drives my wife nuts) i keep a camera and a note pad in our vehicles.

As @Joe Villeneuve alluded to above come up with a plan on what kind of investor you want to be, and work that plan tweaking it as you go and keep moving forward, everything else will start falling into place.  This game is a marathon not a sprint but it does get easier as you build momentum just got to keep pushing.  Have patience and the relationships and the  deal will come unfortunately there really is no good way to force something to happen.