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Do you want to know how to start investing in real estate? Maybe you have a friend or a relative who made money flipping homes, or maybe you like the idea of spending your retirement years collecting rent money from properties that you own. Though you might not have a guide working by your side, you can learn more and educate yourself before you buy your first property.
Investment Books
Due to the sheer popularity and availability of the asset class, there are thousands go great books that can give you a relatively inexpensive foundation of information on how to get started investing in real estate.
The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide to Real Estate Investing is a massive tome that examines the how you can finance your purchases, find homes for sale and what to do if you want to sell a home, and you can download a copy right to your tablet, phone or computer. Frank Gallinelli is the author behind the book What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow…And 36 Other Key Financial Measures, and his book will teach you more about financing and optimizing your cash flow. If you need more information, check out Fix ’em Up, Rent ’em Out: How to Start Your Own House Fix-up & Rental Business in Your Spare Time; or, Investing in Real Estate and Creating Wealth with Fixer-Upper Houses by Terry W. Sprouse, Home Buying for Dummies by Eric Tyson and Profits in Buying and Renovating Homes by Lawrence Dworin. For more real estate investment ideas, check out my article “The 10 Most Influential Real Estate Investment Books”
Real Estate Websites
When you have a few hours to kill, find out more about the real estate market in your area with a few blogs and websites. Zillow is a great place to learn about homes currently for sale. The site shows you some specs on the home, the asking price, the value of neighboring homes and how much the house sold for most recently. If you want to find a few cheap houses, check the HUD website. HUD sells foreclosed homes that belong to the FHA. When the FHA guarantees a loan and the buyer stops making payments, the FHA can foreclose on that house. HUD lists home for sales in every state.
Foreclosures and short sales often sell for prices far less than the market value of those homes. With a short sale, the loan holder and the bank reach an agreement that lets the borrower sell that home for a set price before a foreclosure can happen. Auction.com has a wide range of foreclosed homes for sale. Many beginning investors also find it helpful to look at 1-2-3 Flip, Shaun’s Real Estate Adventures and Flipping Smart. The authors operating these blogs have experience buying, renting and selling homes, and the post articles and blogs that let others learn from their mistakes. If you need more ideas, I have compiled a list of the best investing blogs that I follow.
Investing Apps
Did you know that you can learn how to start investing in real estate and pick up some useful tips with real estate apps? Real Estate by Trulia is one of the best real estate apps, and you’ll get use out of it now and after you gain some more experience. As one of the largest real estate websites, Trulia lists pertinent information about thousands of homes for sale all across the country. You can use the app to see new listings, search for homes available in your area and locate homes in emerging markets. If you have an Apple device, download HammerSmart. This handy app lets you upload information about a project and learn how much that project will cost and the tools you need for the job, which is helpful when you start repairing the homes you buy.
If you hate the idea of spending hours online searching for homes, you’ll appreciate Lovely. This unique app lets you upload and set your preferences. You can decide how much you want to spend, the location where you want to buy a house and even shops and restaurants near those homes. The app will notify you whenever a new home goes on the market that matches your preferences.
Meet New People
Finding real estate investors in your area is sometimes tricky. As soon as you ask questions about how to start investing in real estate, the more experienced people might turn and walk away. Finding someone you can work with and someone you trust can make the process of buying homes and investing in properties a little easier. They can teach you some tips and tricks, tell you about mistakes they made and even tell you which areas you should avoid.
Meeting other investors can take some time, but you cut that time in half when you search for others online. Meetup.com is a great place to find investors living in the same city as you or in a neighboring city, and you can find out when and where those investors meet. If you live in a smaller town or a more rural community without many investors, look for investment forums online.
Find Investors
It takes money to make money, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend your own money. Many beginners looking at how to start investing in real estate start with an investor. An investor is someone who gives you money to buy and update properties. In exchange for that cash, the investor expects a return on the investment. You might give the individual a set amount of money each month when you rent a home, or you might agree to give the investor a percentage of the final sale price of that home.
Locating an investor club in your area is an easy way to find those investors. These clubs consist of people who have money and want to invest in residential or commercial real estate. When browsing Meetup.com for potential mentors, look for investment clubs as well. Those clubs meet in cities across the country on a regular basis, and becoming a member of an investment club can help you find people with cash in hand.