New member from Louisiana!

[Kimberly Lipari]

Hey there!

New to RE and looking to learn what I can about investment opportunities. My husband and I are living near New Orleans and would like to find a way to participate in the market there.

Our goal is to find some independent income and build a nest egg for our family!

-Kimberly

[Robert Leonard]

Hi @Kimberly Lipari and welcome to BP!

Right here is a great place to start.  I highly recommend listening to the podcasts.  They are presented in an educational format and each one is like a short course on different strategies used by the guests.

Start learning your market.  People in this business spend a ton of money on marketing.  Pick up free publications and look at websites where you can start to get an idea of what property values are in different areas.  Before long, you will notice when a price on a property is low or high for a certain area - that's when you know your market!

Many times you will hear people say, "just buy something and figure it out. If you lose money, you will still gain some great experience."  I think that's unnecessary and equals a careless risk.  There's no such thing as investing without risk, but the more you know what you are doing, the better you will get at calculating risk.  

How do you know when you know enough to start and invest in something?  You will know you when you know enough, because you will know what a good deal looks like when you see one.  I see "deals" every day, that because I know a good deal when I see one, I'm not buying.  You have to be able to evaluate a deal on your own to verify what anyone else tells you is a good deal.