So What is a Good Deal?

[Thiago Zanetti]

All I hear on podcasts is that "you have to find a great deal". 

75% below market value to BRRRR , off market properties, and so on.

But thinking long term (10 + years) - a good property - let's say brand new in a good neighborhood and city - isn't a good deal in the long run, with tax benefits, rents being paid by tenents, and the other positive aspects of real estate?

What am I not seing here?

[Anna Swartz-Lopez]

I think it depends on your goals. A lot of investors make their living doing deals, and so for them, every deal needs to have an immediate payday. However, if you like your job and are just buying property to build a portfolio of cash flowing properties over the long term, it makes more sense to buy something that will pay you back over time, rather than immediately. Do your homework and make sure that the property cash flows, that you are not sinking cash into it every month to pay the bills, for sure. 

But I have also heard experienced fix and flippers discourage newbies from buying a property to hold it for rental income, because there was not an immediate influx of cash for the newbie investor. I think that was bad advice. Yes, when you start out, you will likely make deals that you might not, after you get some experience. But you have to get the experience somehow. 

Check out the website one rental at a time. I really appreciate this guy's story about how it's ok to just focus on getting a few rentals. If you want to go past that, great, but just a few rentals can dramatically change your family's financial future. Also, he had to evict the very first renter he got into the very first rental that he bought within the first month. Talk about a rough start. 

So in short, don't let the "great" be the enemy of the "good." Yes, "great" real estate deals are out there, but it's ok to start with just a "good" one.