New to BiggerPockets

[Brandi Hayes]

Hi BP Community, Im a newbie to Real Estate Investing and just trying to eventually get out of the everyday 9-5 grind. Im currently a Personal Banker at a bank and basically what they train us to do on a daily basis is what I see is done in real estate investing. Ex.( cold-calling, follow-up, etc.) So I figure with that bit of knowledge and experience I could get into real estate investments and eventually acquire Financial Freedom. I currently reside in Trenton, NJ and will look to start here first and eventually branch out. I went to the Fortune Builders 3 Day seminar and it definitely lit a fire under me. I pretty much was gearing towards this anyway but the gems that was given there just ignited me even more. But, if anyone is familiar with FB you have to have BIG money to get in their Mastery Program that has everything you need to start and we are financially strapped at this time. I currently am pursuing this new venture with a business partner (my brother). We are educating ourselves more in the wholesale market first just to gain some capital and eventually transition into rental properties. I would appreciate any info about REIA's, meetups, and mentoring that can possibly get us started. Im currently self educating by reading, youtube, podcasts, and most importantly this gem I just found BiggerPockets. Again please feel free to give any info Im very coachable and eager to learn from you guys as much as I can. Regards

[Ro Maga]

Brandi Hayes
Brandi, before you give anybody $10k or $20k of your hard-earned money (which you can use to start investing instead), do yourself a favor and explore BiggerPockets fully.

Without spending a penny, you have access to this amazing forum which connects you to over half a million investors all over the U.S. and beyond. There's a bunch of newbies, who will provide not only encouragement, but who will ask the questions you didn't think of asking. That's precious. Then you have the responses of seasoned investors--that's pure gold! It's like having not just a mentor, but a complete board of advisors.

Then there's all you can read on your own. Many of us started by checking books from our local libraries completely free.

Then there's is the Podcast and the weekly webinar, which is free to "attend" live.

If you buy a membership, you'll have access to a tremendous amount of video content. (Sign up for a webinar and then use one of the promos Brandon Turner offers at the end of each one). Regular price for Pro membership is, what, $290? If after exhausting the benefits of BP Pro you still feel you need to give somebody $20k to teach you, well at least you can do that fully knowledgeable and not just because of a three-day sales pitch.

Oh, and please don't let them convince you that you gotta pay for your education like people pay college tuition. Learning RE is not like learning engineering or brain science, millions of people do it all over the world who've never paid a cent to a guru or mentor.

And if anybody insinuated you could put their fees on your credit card, RUN!