How to Get Started Investing

What we are going to talk about today is we always get investors asking us how to get started in investing. And no one really knows what that first step is. I can tell you my recommendation would be is the first thing you want to do is you want to create a plan. You want to make sure that you have a plan, you have it written down and documented from beginning to end or the best you can. It’s not to say that you may not change it as time goes on, but you want to make sure that whatever that plan is you’re going to stick with it. That’s the most important thing, write it down, and stick to that plan. If you do this your are 98% ahead of the rest of people, a plan not written down is just a dream.

The next thing you want to do is in that plan you want to make sure that you are going to be complying with all government local agency laws. These laws include Texas Real Estate Commission, IRS laws, Fair Housing Laws, Discrimination Laws, and Fair Credit Reporting Act Laws. There’s just a lot of things you want to make sure that you know what you can and cannot say, can and cannot do. My recommendation is you want to surround yourself with a very good team, meaning you want to get Real Estate Agents that know what they are doing that can help you find the deals. Establish relationships with contractors, inspectors and anyone else you may think you could need in your immediate investing future. Make sure that they realize that you are serious and that you are going to do what you say. Last thing a contractor wants is somebody picking their brain all the time and never does business with them. Establish all the roles that you are going need filled and then during that time you want to establish relationships with them. Try to find three Real Estate Agents that seem like they could be a good fit. Sit down and talk with them and let them your plan, you may find one that you really like and want to do business with, same thing with contractors. Just get a good team on your side. Best thing you could do is leverage other people. You only have so many hours in a day and if you have a team of five people obviously you can do a lot more with that.

I think as an investor your best bet is focusing on finding deals and making that decision financially whether or not it’s a good deal or a bad deal. Have the inspector go out and tell you if you need a new roof, or have a contractor who will tell you how much the make ready bid will cost. And with that information you can plug in your numbers and as a true investor you can tell you whether or not it is or it’s not a good deal. Have the agent find rental comps for you and that’s how you will know if it’s going to make money for you or not.

That is what leverage is all about. The best thing you could do is get the team, create a business plan, and sit down to talk to people. We have a lot of investors that would come and talk to us and just ask us questions even if we don’t manage their properties we still help them by answering questions here and there. What kind of people do you want on your team, what constitutes a good team member. Those kinds of things you should be asking yourself.