Hi BiggerPockets Team Members,
I took Brandon Turner's advice last night watched the "How to Invest in Real Estate as a newbie". It was great, joined the Pro Membership! I also drove by a property I would like to buy but have no idea what to do next? I have an appointment with the owner this Saturday August 22, 2020 but have no idea what to say or how to present myself. I need money to buy the property which is a FSBO for $369,000. Can someone please give me an idea how and what I should be doing and saying? I appreciate your time and consideration I have no idea what I doing?
Thank you,
Rod Lambe
@Rod Lambe
You are welcome bro!
@Rod Lambe taking action doesn't always mean bug a property. Taking action comes in many forms. You are already taking action listening to the podcast and learning that is a huge first step. Next action you should take is getting very clear on your goals and figure out how real estate can help you teach those goals. Do you want to earn an extra 50k a year? 100k? Do you any more passive income? Do you want it now or later? Once you figure out your goal then you need to figure out steps to reach those goals so maybe save up a down payment that can be relatively low if you use a FHA or Va or USDA loan or other options (read/listen to Brandon Turners Invest w no or low money down) once you have done that you have to find a property that fits that criteria and PULL THE TRIGGER. Don't get discouraged dig deep be in it for the long run real estate is not get rich quick but it can change your life. I'm just now ready to buy a property I've been studying and running numbers and really diving into my goals and my WHY for months now. Hopefully I will get my first deal soon. I'm doing a House hack currently looking for a duplex I can get in w a 3.5% down payment and live for free. This will allow me to save 70% of my income (already saving 20 and 50 goes to rent) and then I'll be able to start picking up more and more rental property and a faster and faster rate! Good luck and stay the course man!
@Randall Alan
Hey Rod, I totally feel you hear I am also new to this RE Investing. Like you said I think you went to it a bit blindly but with the right intentions and the right motivations. One thing I will say if you went further than I did I yet have reached out to anyone about any property but one thing is for certain. As days pass by I have made it my job to learn about it and the process. So for example how much money do I need? How much money can I get from the bank, how to calculate weather the property I’m looking into have a positive cash flow, learn several strategies on how make an offer. There’s a lot to learn but hey don’t be discouraged this is a time for you to learn weather you do end up meeting this guys or not i want you to know that you have a go getter spirit and that’s exactly what’s needed in this field (as per many investors). I just purchased the Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, repeat book bundle which I believe will be great for newbies like us to learn. Yes it’s good to dive into it and get started but that doesn’t mean you do it blindly. Also Read/listen to the book Rich Dad Poor Dad this will give you the right mindset to attack you next move. Hope you are still encouraged and willing to learn.
Have a blessed day.
Hey there @Rod Lambe - Good for you to identify that you needed a change, what the path is to achieve that change (Real Estate), start learning more about it, seeking help and taking action! You're far ahead of the curve already!! You've gotten some great sage advice from many experienced, inexperienced, and everyone in between kinds of people, so, please don't get discouraged and stay on this path. Here are a few more:
1) Building up your credit score should be super easy right now with annualcreditreport offering a free report from all 3 agencies once a week! Yes, WEEKLY, FREE, Credit Reports WITH individual agencies even offering free scores sometimes! (Experian at least). Fix any mistakes, errors, ommisions, and raise that score.
2) Like many others said, identify and implement money saving tips to your daily life and routine and hopefully build some savings to use as either a down payment or reserves etc.
3) Leverage your pro membership to run at least 5 property analysis a day, at the BARE minimum! Even if those deals make no sense from the get go, just go through the process nonetheless and just get used to doing it!! This will hone your skills and help you identify a deal when you DO see one! VERY powerful tool!
4) There are tens of thousands of lenders: Private, Institutional, Portfolio, Hard, Credit Union, Brokers and everyone in between on this site as a list! Just Google "BiggerPockets Lender List". Start looking through them, reach out, and start networking, building a relationship, and see if any of them will work with you to help get your scores up and reserves built up and possibly creating a loan structure that works for a deal.
5) NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK! I started my investing career out of state, and am still a 100% of of state investor. I have bought properties for under $30k as late as June of this year, Single Family Residence (SFR), and fixed it up for another $15k ($45k total) and it is producing over a $1,000 in rent now per month. You can only find them from reputable wholesalers, reliable brokers, strong networks, then building a team of GCs, or individual tradesmen and long arduous weeks and months of effort.
Just keep strong, keep taking action, network, find partners and other like minded individuals and you will succeed! Best of luck!
@Rod Lambe
What have you done to earn money in the past? What are your gifts and strengths? If you can figure out how to apply your experience and gifts to RE investing, you will get results faster. You say you are a beginner. You may not know all the terminology but wisdom helps every area of life.
From your question, it is hard to know if you are just curious about RE or if you are committed to becoming a RE investor. Your approach should be different if you are curious or committed.
Since you have a meeting with the seller, find out what he wants and needs. Ask if he would owner finance or "carry the note". Maybe he is leaving the state for another job and just doesn't want to be bothered with renting his place out. Maybe he would accept a house-sitting arrangement with an option to buy. Maybe he is worried about something. Maybe the roof needs repair and he doesn't want to fix it.
Act like you care about the seller and his needs and explore ways you could meet his needs.
Work to establish trust. Trust is more important than information, money, or credit scores. You will also learn much from that conversation. Jim Rohn says if you want to make more money, you need to learn how to serve more people and service them better.
Until the meeting with the seller, you can research the property on state tax websites, Zillow, rentometer, redfin, etc. Look for comparable home prices, rents, quality of school districts, proposed zoning changes, liens, etc. You can even do a background check on the seller and find out a bit about his history that he might not want to divulge on a first meeting.
Hi Joel,
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and what direction would be best for me! I truly appreciate it! I have been in Enterprise Sales in the Mailing & Shipping industry with Pitney Bowes, Inc. The sales side of things I feel very comfortable in my zone. I enjoy making proposal presentations within this industry because I am an expert in Mailing & Shipping industry. RE Investing I am not, just a beginner looking to learn as much as I can.
I am diving into Mobile Home Investing Pod Cast with author Lauren Cochran and just signed up with the Pro Program in BiggerPockets after listening to Brandon Turner’s Pod Cast How to get into “Real Estate Investing as a Newbie”. So awesome, he is so convincing I joined right away! I also am working in bring up my credit scores by paying off debt as fast as my income allows. I currently work for Heartland A Global Payments Company for the last two years. I am paid on commissions only when I install the equipment or solutions we offer to restaurants and small business owners. So it is building relationships sale and it takes time to build a relationship with small business owners before they trust you! Which I completely understand I am dealing with their livelihoods and business.
Thank you for everything you have suggested to become successful in Real Estate Investing! I appreciate your time & comments.
Rod
@Jaspreet Baveja,
Wow, do I appreciate the time you took to give me such solid advice about Investing in Real Estate! I have taken some of the steps you have mentioned or am in the middle of implementing. Such as, improving my credit scores I am paying off debts as fast as my income will provide. I did not know about annualcreditreport.com free weekly pull, that is awesome!
I will also continue networking with different lenders, investors, inspectors, etc. I am very committed weekly to be reading and practicing on BiggerPockets website and others like Connected Investors. This is not a hope or part time phase, I have seen and heard were investing in Real Estate has taken the seasoned investor and I want to be like that someday. I appreciate your communication and will reread your comments over & over to digest every word! I would appreciate if we could stay in touch, I value your comments and mindset!
Thank you Jaspreet,
Rod
@Annu Zer,
I want to thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts that I emailed to the BiggerPockets Members. I am so new, I feel completely overwhelmed with what type of plan to start considering and focus on. Like you had mentioned there is a lot of RE experience on BP to start to learn from. I will continue learning about my new craft realizing like you mentioned this is not a quick buck. This will take a good amount of time and analysis of many properties before I can step up and make a convincing presentation to a seller.
Thank you for all your thoughts & comments, I will reread your note again to be top of mind!
Rod
Hi Lance,
All these RE investing guru's make it sound that as long as I am willing to work hard everything will turn out for a great financial future. After I have put down my money to join the pro program I emailed and ask for 5 minutes of advice. There support team sends me to a forum. Oh well, it great that I heard from you & Randy. You are right, I have learned I'm not alone and Randy gave some great advice. I am the type of guy that will differently do what ever it takes but it sounds like what it takes is MONEY. Hard work alone will not do it!
Well... sadly, that's what many "gurus" do - they tell you all the positives without all the realities.
That doesn't mean that you should run away, nor that whatever excited you about this to begin with isn't still valid/real... it might just mean that you need to lay some foundation first.
Hard work will get you there... but at this very first stage it may be that your initial work should be focused on getting some money in hand. Spend a bit of time working, selling things, downsizing, cancelling the pro memberships... whatever it takes to gather that initial investment - and then you'll be in a better to place to make those appointment, place offers and allow that money to work for you and making your hard work even more valuable.
Anyone who tells you that this is "easy" or a "get rich quick" plan is probably just getting rich off of whatever they are selling you... but this IS worth the hard work and CAN lead to the great financial future you're trying to achieve.
I feel like that's a lot of people on BP. Yeah, borrow money from anyone who will lend it to you. You have nothing saved at all... Sure it's a great idea for you to invest right away, just get an FHA loan, borrow from family etc, etc. It's like 2006 sub-prime loans, the investor edition.
Hi Dustin,
After reading your message for the second time, I want to congratulate you on completing your Buyers List task! The time it took you and your focus is excellent! I would like to talk to you if you have the time for 5-10 minutes, to talk with me about your Buyers List. Please let me know.
Thank you,
Rod
@Rod Lambe
You are welcome bro!