Let’s start off by saying this is a very loaded and popular question amongst beginner real estate agents, investors, wholesalers, and the like. I’ll do my best to cover the major bases as I think back to my first steps as an investor but also draw on my experiences over the past 10 years of investing, wholesaling and agenting.
Before I begin writing on the topic at hand let me quickly introduce myself. My name is Bill Beck and I am one of the cofounders here at Rise Properties alongside my partners Pete and Marc. If you have followed our IG posts at all, I’m the dude with the backwards hat in the videos going on various real estate related monologues. I started my investing career fresh out of college when I bought my first two family home with a family member. Perhaps like some of you, my father planted the real estate seed within me and after some nurturing and maturing over the years, I took the leap of going into real estate full time by creating Rise Properties with Pete and Marc (see our sweet timeline of events here – https://risepropertiesllc.com/about-us/). That’s enough about me for the time being, lets jump into the subject matter…
I’m sure many of you reading are approaching real estate from various perspectives and are trying to understand how exactly to begin your journey. There is no golden answer as everyone is different but I’ll outline some jumping off points and keys to success in this industry based on my experience.
5 tips for any beginner real estate investor:
- The old adage of “your network is your net worth” rings true more than ever in this industry. Whether you’re an agent, investor, wholesaler or contractor, you should always be expanding your network. As you mature as an investor and business person you will learn which people complement your skills best. And with that practice of meeting people you will be able to more efficiently filter through these individuals and decide how much time to invest into each of them. Naturally, the more value one provides the more you want them in your inner circle. Depending on your individual skill set will depend on who meshes best with your skill gaps (i.e. If you’re great at analyzing deals you don’t need another excel guy, you may see more value from a strong negotiator).
- FIND A MENTOR. Pretty self-explanatory right? If you want to be a wholesaler, go find someone who is actively wholesaling in your market and buddy up. Offer free labor if you must. Get your foot in the door, show some hustle and learn as much as possible. Reach out to us if you’re in the NJ market, maybe we have some opportunity for you : )
- Use the internet and literature available to build your knowledge base. Mentors and real experience will always trump a book or podcast but knowing the basics before you jump in is prudent. We recommend following us on FB and IG for some investor 101 tips. In addition, you can check out some of my book recommendations on my IG page – see highlights. Finally, https://www.biggerpockets.com/ is the GOAT as far as free real estate knowledge, that also doubles as a sort of real estate focused LinkedIn (build that network!).
- Practice makes perfect. You fancy yourself as an analyzer? Start running through 50 excel proformas a day. You want to learn how to appropriately assess a home during a walkthrough? Call your mentor and make sure you are attending every possible appointment (ask them questions like – What are you looking for? Why are you looking at that? What were your thoughts on that building?). Repetition until its second nature…
- Show hustle. Everyone appreciates a hustler. It doesn’t matter if you come into this industry not knowing an igloo from a skyscraper – show energy and hustle and you WILL be appreciated. Be a hustler that learns from previous experiences and builds upon that knowledge. Your mentor or superior wont want to reteach you basic concepts over and over again so take notes or whatever it is you do to not look foolish on the same concept twice.
Last but not least, take action immediately. Do not spend all your time reading blog posts like this or suffering from analysis paralysis before you take action. Go find that mentor today, spend time analyzing 50 deals this week, walk properties, and make it happen!
-Bill
