Real Estate Investing

Before you get started, you need to figure out what you want to achieve. You need goals! Do you want to be a landlord? Are you intersted in rehabbing houses or as the t.v. shows call it, "flipping"? Are you interested in wholesaling houses? Whatever you choose, you need to set goals and make them attainable. If you set outlandish goals as I orginally did, you are more than likely setting yourself up for failure and nobody likes failing.

Here are some posts you may want to check out on my blog:
Real Estate Investing Post #1
Real Estate Investing Post #2
Real Estate Investing Post #3

Before you get going in real estate investing, you will need a power team. You will need this team regardless of whether you are passively or actively investing. Your power team will include an:

1. Banker or mortgage broker - Before making any offers on REO's or wholesale deals, you need to have your financing in place so you are not wasting anybody's time.

2. Realtor - Realtors can be a gold mine for deals. There are two types of Realtors that you want to have in your corner, listing agents and buyer's representative agents. Listing agents are a potential gold mine because they tend to hear about a lot of deals as they are coming on the market or even prior to being released. Buyer representative agents are great because as soon as a good deal hits the market, they send out e-mails about the deal. Whatever your strategy may be, it's a good idea to network and have both types of Realtors in your corner. Remember to treat the Realtor with respect and DO NOT WASTE THEIR TIME until you have your funding secured. When you are looking for a Realtor, check out Renee Kolar's check list of 13 Questions For Your Next Realtor.

3. CPA - You need a CPA that is a real estate investor or has a large number of clients that are real estate investors. Why is it necessary to have a CPA that specializes in real estate investing? Do you want a want a patent attorney handling your divorce? Probably not.

4. Insurance Agent - I don't like paying the premiums, but it's much better than the alternative if something happens to the property.

5. Contractor - This is tough. A lot of people have a tough time finding a contractor they can trust. A lot of people suggest using a handyman for most things except for items such as major electrical upgrades or repairs, major plumbing projects, foundations, and possibly roofing although some handymen do roofs.

Once you have your team, you need to decide whether you are going to be an active or passive investor.

An active investor is a person who actively markets to homeowners in distress. Maybe the homeowner is having a difficult time making the monthly payments or perhaps they just went through a terrible divorce. Whatever the circumstance, you need to make sure they know you are buying houses in their neighborhood. There are many ways to market to these homeowners and that will be another lens on another day. Once you market to the homeowners and start receiving phone calls, you will begin making offers on the properties.

A passive investor