Starting out at the peak of the Real Estate boom

[Neil Landa]

Good Morning BP!  Brand new to the Real Estate game and I'm curious of everyone's thoughts about getting into the Fix-and-Flip game at this point in the Real Estate cycle.  Would it be better to get in now and get my feet wet in preparation for the market downturn or wait until the downturn to jump in?  

[Joe Villeneuve]

Charles Dickens said it best, but he wasn't talking about REI. The application to REI is the same though. It doesn't matter.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,..."

Deals are made, they are not found. Any economy has deals in them. The deals are based on DP (cost to the REI), and the terms for paying off the rest (not a cost to the REI...as long as they have positive CF). This means deals are designed around the specific micro-market the property is in, the strategy used on that property that delivers the specific financial cost/returns to the REI required by their individual REI Plan.

IF you want to make deals, you need to know as many strategies as you can learn, learn how to analyze markets, and learn how to design, and stick to, a REI Plan based on your financial goals...and these goals are specific. "I want to be financially independent", or "I want to exit the rat race", or "I want to....", are NOT goals. They are not specific, and they don't have dollar signs in front of them.

Goals are numbers with $$$ in front, and are specific to your need for monthly cash flow, and payoff of personal debt.