There are Some Basics to Getting Started in Real Estate Investing. Here are Some key Suggestions.

Educate Yourself: There are a number of sources you can turn to to get started learning about real estate investing. The first should be your local real estate investors association (R.E.I.A.). This is an organization of investors and aspiring investors that meet once a month to make new contacts (network), interact with others, and get more education themselves. Often, there are vendors offering various services such as property inspections, insurance, online subscriptions for foreclosure listings, comps, etc. You will also find people there offering properties for sale. You will also meet a good share of contractors that may be of service to you later on. Put a note on the back of their card as to what you liked about them. You will be meeting a lot of people - it makes it easier to recall them later. Make use of the opportunity and meet as many as you can. Start collecting business cards from those that made a positive impression. This will be the start of a process of putting together a team that you will work with again and again. Meet other people like yourself that are new and want to gain knowledge. It makes it more fun to have friends to attend the various functions offered by this and other nearby associations. There are usually speakers that will give a talk and usually offer a product or service. Take the free information. It will give you some foundation to begin deciding which areas of real estate investing you are most interested in. In your conversations with the folks you are meeting, ask which books they recommend, which speakers and programs they like, and pay attention to what they say if they have one to avoid. You will likely discover that the people that are most successful in this business are the ones that have strong ethics and honest business practices. Start the habit of building long term relationships with people you like and have come to trust.
There is an ocean of information available on the internet. Make use of it. Building a foundation of information before you start buying books or courses will probably save you some money. There are many inexpensive programs, course, e-books, etc. available… low cost, no cost even. Take advantage of the mountain of free reports, articles and programs. There are quite a few places you can get free information from those wishing to for long term business relationships and are willing to pass on some free basic information to you to make that connection.

Where to Find Properties: In days gone by, you could look in the classified and find bunches of properties for sale. Now, that is not the case. You have a number of choices of starting places. First, there are realtors that have properties listed for sale. You can find them on line. Understand that these properties are usually listed with a realtor in an effort to get the top price. You may find it useful to stick to looking at properties where the owner needs to sell rather than just wants to sell. If you choose to work with a realtor, be respectful of their time. You might want to try to develop a relationship with a wholesaler - a person that finds properties and passes them off to others for a small fee. This individual should be more familiar with the numbers of a profitable deal. They should be finding deals with profit built in from the start. If there is not at least twenty five thousand dollars of profit for you in a house offered by a wholesaler, you should probably pass on it and look for something else. Not many things in life go exactly as planned and that is certainly true in this business. Make sure you start out with a plan that reasonably leaves you with a smile on your face when you are done.

Act: Educate yourself, do some research BEFORE investing, then take action. Your journey begins with the first step of action. With out action, this will be just entertainment. You must learn some basics and do your home work before putting your money down. Anyone that tells you otherwise is probably not looking out for your best interest.