Real Estate Investing - For Beginners

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are telling themselves how great it would be if they could lose their 9-5 work week and live the lifestyle of a real estate investor.  Many of these people haven't the slightest clue on how to get started, however.  They tempt themselves into buying the courses that are out there.  In the end, they have spent thousands on these courses and yet still haven't a clue on exactly how they should get started.  I know because I was once there.

When I started to look into real estate investing, I was 24 and didn't have a clue on how to even buy a house.  I spent most of my time on the internet researching.  Eventually I bought a few books off amazon.com and purchased a wholesaling course from a well known guru.  It's not my job to list the names of these books or gurus, but I think more importantly it's my job to inform you how you can get started without those books.

If you are a total beginner in real estate, I first suggest you do some research on creonline.com.  Visit their article and success story links.  This will help broaden your mind a little bit and give you some motivation which will help carry you through the learning process.  Keep in mind that you are only going to focus on wholesaling.

What is wholesaling?  Basically, what a wholesaler does is find ugly houses that need a lot of work.  They get the house under contract, and then they do a contract assignment(sell the contract).  An assignment of contract is great because you never actually buy or own the house yourself.  The investor you assign your rights to will close on the house instead of yourself.  This creates very minimal risk on your behalf. 

I'd also recommend you research your local market before getting started.  Get an idea of how much properties in your area are going for.  Find out where the nice neighborhoods are and target those locations.  Remember...  we want ugly houses that are in nice neighborhoods.  Make sure you get an idea of what the legal process is like in your state as well because each state is different.  You may try doing a google search on real estate law in your area, or perhaps it would be even better to contact a local real estate attorney.  Just make sure that the attorney specializes in real estate transactions.

Do you need good credit or tons of money to get started?  NO!  I started with very little.  Believe me when I say that your willpower is more important than your bank account.  The great thing about wholesaling is that you are not buying these homes yourself.  The only money you will need is to buy an option, put a earnest money deposit on the property, and/or money towards advertising.  That's it.

There is just so much information out there on wholesaling.  I cannot cover it all here.  So I suggest that you do your own due diligence because remember that in this business you are your own boss, and if you procrastinate the learning process too much then you'll eventually lose interest in doing it.  Always invest your time in something that is going to benefit you the most.  Start by investing into yourself.  Then get out there and wholesale some houses!