My name is Wesley. I’m a local here in Houston TX born and raised. At the moment I am a class A CDL drive that hauls construction equipment to commercial and residential job sites. Doing this job for the past 5 years have sparked my interest in investing in real estate and flipping houses. The only problem is I have no clue where to start. I guess what I am looking for is to connect with investors who have experience and learn the ropes. I am free on weekends to help and learn and I also get the hookup on construction rental equipment. If anyone is interested in helping a newbie in Houston reach out please.

Hey @Wesley Copeland I used to finance some of that yellow iron that you haul around around to jobsites.  I bet we know a few of the same people.  I got some local resources for you.

Take a look online at Houston Buyers Club, and/or AC Ramos at Prosperity Group.  

The trick to this is getting deals and buying them deep enough.  That makes the rest of it relatively simple.

Hey Wesley, join the club!  I have only been in this business since January, but have built my business around wholesaling.  I suggest you learn what it is and why it is key to finding your investment deals.

Aside from that, I highly suggest you read, read, read everything you can about real estate investing (REI), e.g., wholesaling, ARV, ROI, hard-money (private money) lending, notes, owner/seller financing, and anything else related. Also, learn about the different off-market leads: pre-foreclosures, probates, vacant homes, absentee owner, distressed homes, etc. And, read articles by the many different experts on BP's forums, for starters.

Another important tip is to create an account with meetup.org and join several of the different REI clubs. I suggest North Houston REI, 713 Houston Area REI, and Wholesale Nation as a start. They often have virtual meetups on Facebook or Zoom where you can learn a lot about real estate investing. Look for these groups on Facebook, too.

Lastly, consider your first investment from a distressed home you found driving through different neighborhoods.  This is called Driving 4 Dollars.  Essentially, you drive around a neighborhood looking for homes that look or are vacant, or don't look like anyone is taking care of it; e.g., grass not cut, collection of mail or newspapers, gutters falling down, etc.  This suggests that the home could belong to the heirs of a deceased owner, or it is a rental owned by someone not showing an interest in it, or various other reasons.  When you find one, you write down the address take a photo of it and research the owner's name and contact info.  A great APP to download on your phone for this is called Deal Machine.  Afterwards, you have two choices: 1) contact the owner and offer to buy the house, then rehab it, and sell it for a profit, or 2) contact the owner and offer to buy the house, then 'assign' the house to a buyer for a higher price than the owner agreed to buy it from you (called wholesaling).  Another idea is to make an offer with the owner, buy it, move in and rehab it, then rent out a room or garage to collect rent (called house hacking).

There are numerous ways to get into real estate investing.  Reaching out on this forum was a good start.  Keep it up!

@Mark Sewell we probably do. I work at the location off 288 and Beltway 8. Thanks for the info brother.

@Turner Wright thank you for the info. It means a lot.