Getting Started in Real Estate Investing

So, you want to get started in real estate investing. It's an idea in your head. How do you make it become reality? How are you going to get started? This article will help.

Here's 5 questions you must ask yourself today:
1. How much time do you have?
2. What kind of investing is your personality suited for?
3. What resources do you have available?
4. How is your credit?
5. What is your commitment level?

1. How much time do you have? We all have 24 hours in a day, but how much time do you have to devote toward investing in real estate?

Remember, you are going to need time to learn about investing. You are going to need time to look for motivated sellers. You are going to need time to work on your properties. How much time can you devote to reaching your goals?

Can you set aside 1-2 hours every day? Will you set aside half a day each weekend? Think about budgeting your time.

2. What kind of investing is your personality suited for? What is your temperament? Are you outgoing? Do you like talking to people? Do enjoy networking and negotiating? Or, do you like working with your hands? Would you prefer to find a fixer-upper and spending hours each day working on it by yourself?

Determine what method of investing in real estate best suits your personality. Is it wholesaling, flipping, foreclosures, rehabbing, or Landlording. What excites you? What can you 'see' yourself doing and enjoying. What would be fun for you?

3. What resources do you have available? How much cash savings do you have? Do you have equity in other property that you could use? Even zero-cash-down deals will cost you something. How much cash are you willing to invest to get your investing career started?

If you have little or no cash you might need to start out learning about wholesaling. You could accumulate some quick cash to put into your first rehab deal. Then you could accumulate some more money to put into your first buy and hold property.

You will learn more about the different methods of investing later in this book. Just take a moment to inventory your resources at this point.

4. How is your credit? Do you know your credit score? Is your credit report strong, mediocre, or weak? If you had to borrow money, could you?

Most buy and hold investors have a mortgage on their properties. Using the bank's money means you must have decent credit.

If your credit isn't good enough you may need to partner with someone and use their credit.

By the way, you can obtain a free copy of your credit report once a year
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5. What is your commitment level? Just how committed are you to succeeding? Commitment trumps everything else. Commitment will find the time. Commitment will fine tune the personality. Commitment will create the resources.

Wayne Dyer, Ph.D. says, 'There's no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love. There is only a scarcity of resolve to make it happen.'

If you are committed to making it happen, you will!

Pat Riley knows something about commitment. He is the current President and Head Coach of the Miami HEAT, Pat Riley is a six-time National Basketball Association World Champion, as well as the only Head Coach in NBA history to capture Coach of the Year honors with three different teams: the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks, and the Miami HEAT.

Pat says, 'There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either in or out. There's no such thing as a life in-between.'

There's only one decision you need to make to reach your investing goals. You are either in or out. Stand up right now, walk to a mirror and look yourself right in the eyes and say, 'I'm in! Within the next 60 days I will have completed my very first real estate deal.' (Or, if it's not your first deal you can say, 'I will have completed my next real estate deal.')