subject: Real Estate Investing - Get A Strong Start [print this page] We may be moving into a new age of self education. Self education dominated most of human history until relatively recently, when university schooling was the order of the day. Today, with the advent of the internet and the vast resources of information available to almost everyone in the country, that shift may be happening again. Certainly, if you want to get involved with something like real estate investing, you don't need to take classes or get a degree to start. That said, you will learn more in a single semester than you will in a year's worth of dedicated internet study. One thing you should not do is get involved until you have the basics down. Of course, education is only one facet to getting a strong start in the market.
Education
If you want to get the best possible foundation for your real estate investing, consider looking through a community college catalog in your area and sign up for a class or two on the subject. If you prefer to take classes online, you can probably arrange that as well. Try to stick with an accredited university instead of some guy's "Super Course on Making Money in Real Estate", as you want the fundamentals, not a slick sales pitch and various tricks that will supposedly make you rich in a month's time.
The Market
Most who begin investing in real estate start with the homes and properties in their area. Since the name of the game in any form of investing is to buy low and sell high, you need to get a grasp on the values in your community. One of the best ways to do so is to find a house you might be interested in purchasing. Then try to find a similar house in both location and size that has sold recently. You can then compare the selling price of that home to the price of the property in question. This will give you a strong hand in negotiating a price and it will also tell you at which number you should simply walk away.
Start Small
You aren't going to be the next Donald Trump in your first year of real estate investing, so don't try to run before you can walk. While it can be immensely profitable, buying and selling property carries with it plenty of risk. Make sure you are never putting in more money than you can feasibly afford to lose. Obviously, you're never going to lose your entire investment, but you need to make sure you will be financially sound even if you don't get what you want out of your sales.
by: Alfred Ardis
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