Two years. Only thing that held me back was fear, doubt, and commitment. I partnered into my first deal, and how i was able to do that was by hanging around people who were already doing it. I met my partner at REI meeting. They say surround yourself with people who are doing what you want to accomplish. Guess they are right!
It took me about a year to find a deal (or longer depending on who is counting). My wife and I started looking for a multiplex to house hack in 2012 when we moved to Olympia. After seeing more than 60 properties and losing offers on 3 we bought an SFR.
We started looking for a rental at the beginning of 2016 and will close on a duplex in Tacoma next week. During that time we analyzed too many deals to count (auction, MLS, and off market), walked 20 + properties, and lost an offer on one other property. We found our duplex from another investor via Craigslist and bought it without an agent with the help of an attorney.
It took me about 6 months to find my first rental property. That was 15 years ago and I found it online. The property was listed and I called the listing agent. I told him I wanted to buy 20 properties. He laughed and said OK. He wasn't laughing a few years later when he found out I had over 20 units! It took about 5 more years to quit my regular job and do REI full time.
10 months, and $10k+ in marketing/systems and no deal closed yet.
Interest in real estate started in November 2015, read books, learned, built property analysis spreadsheet, joined a local REIA and then in April 2016 pulled the trigger on marketing/spending money to find off market deals. Started off shotgun approach because I was unsure of what would work or really how to do this 'off market real estate thing' so burned through 2,500 door hangers (hung by yours truly), and ~6,000 post cards sent to self built tax delinquent and divorce lists over a ~ 6 month span. Nothing under contract, a few appointments but nothing under contract. I transitioned to skip tracing and pre-foreclosure leads and got my first signed contract in August of 2016, which turned into a short sale that has yet to close (fingers crossed it closes this month). Got a contract on a burn house back in October from a driving for dollars one off post card, lined up a buyer, and had heir-ship issues (found a missing heir through skip tracing and turned out he was looking for 'blood' on the lady trying to sell the house) which caused it to fall through. Refined my skip tracing methods partnered up with an experienced short seller and am now sitting on 3 contracted houses in the short sale process with two more on the cusp of getting short sales initiated with the lender and a marketing system that seems to be producing slightly consistent leads... but time will tell... and wow have I put a lot of time into this thing with nothing to close. Definitely not for the faint of heart! The fact that I have gotten this far without quitting is hands down the hardest thing I have ever done.
One thing is for sure. I know a heck of a lot more than I did last year at this time. And I remain hopeful that this will not be in vain.
@Kaelyn Hearn When I first started studying RE I was a full time teacher. I started studying in December and took the jump into my first property in July 1 after getting an accepted contract in June, so about six months. We found the deal on the MLS through an investor friendly realtor.