Make Your Own Real Estate Investing Course

Have you ever ordered a real estate investing course off of a late night infomercial? Was it just what you needed? I hope it was, but more often, there is a lot of information there that just doesn't help. It isn't that the information is necessarily incorrect. It is just that we all are different, and not all ways of making money in real estate suit each of us.

Fortunately, there are hundreds of variations based on dozens of basically different ways to make money in real estate. Some of the ways will work better than others - for you. You may not want to option commercial property, or lease-option mobile homes. Aren't you less likely to succeed doing those things that you have no real interest in? Then perhaps it is time to design your own real estate investing course.

Designing Your Own Real Estate Course

The first thing you need to do is discover what kinds of real estate investing are best suited to your personality. You might want to spend an afternoon in the local bookstore for this. Any good one will have at least fifty books on fifteen different ways to make money with real estate. Browse, read, take notes, and see what types of investing appeal to you. Consider just three examples:

1. Fixer uppers. These can yield a quick profit. You can also be very creative in this type of investing. On the other hand, are you ready for the risk and uncertainty? I have a friend who did very well with fixer uppers, but he always had several unexpected surprises on each project. There is a lot of ongoing decision-making in this kind of investing.

2. Rental homes. This can be a safe way to get started, especially if you do your homework and buy only when there is immediate cash flow. On the other hand, being a landlord isn't much fun, and you may have to wait a long time for the big pay-off. Do you like dealing with tenants?

3. Flipping real estate. Make a low offer that is assignable. Then find an investor who actually wants to buy the property, and sell the contract for say $8,000. A way to make money with no cash to start, and it is also great for those who like in-and-out projects more than ongoing management. The downside? You'll spend a lot of time making rejected offers and annoying people.

You can see that each type of real estate investing in the above examples is suited to a investors with different personalities and resources. You should look at twenty more ways to invest in real estate. Then you'll have a better idea of which ways are best for you

The Course

Once you have decided on the type or types of investing that suit you best, you can start designing your own real estate investment course. Take out a piece of paper and make three columns, labeled "books," "people" and "other resources." Make a plan that involves all three of these.

For example, seek out the books that are most directly relevant to the type of investing you'll be doing. Get these online, at the bookstore, or in the library.

The "people" category is for a list of those people that can help teach you. This can be investors that have experience in the area you are interested in - find these at a local real estate club. This could also include real estate agents - browse advertisements to see which ones sell a lot of the types of properties you'll be looking at.

The "other resources" column is for seminars, tapes, internet real estate investing forums, and anything else that can be part of your course. In addition to these three lists, make a list of everything you need to learn - this will be added to as you learn what you don't know.

Set goals based on your lists. Have completion dates for reading the books. Set appointments to go to club meetings or meet with real estate agents. Fashion it all into a real estate investing course that takes you from here to your first (or next) investment.