real estate

drummingman

Gold Member
so im doing some research on how to get into real estate. i know nothing about real estate but i have been thinking about it. do any of you know anything about this area? do you know of any good websites or books to check out?
if it is possible im trying to find out how to get into real estate with little or no money to start with. im also thinking about taking a class at my local community college in real estate.
 
so im doing some research on how to get into real estate. i know nothing about real estate but i have been thinking about it. do any of you know anything about this area? do you know of any good websites or books to check out?
if it is possible im trying to find out how to get into real estate with little or no money to start with. im also thinking about taking a class at my local community college in real estate.

Well from what i understand now is a horrible time to get into realestate due to our current economic situation.
 
so im doing some research on how to get into real estate. i know nothing about real estate but i have been thinking about it. do any of you know anything about this area? do you know of any good websites or books to check out?
if it is possible im trying to find out how to get into real estate with little or no money to start with. im also thinking about taking a class at my local community college in real estate.

I'm gonna have to agree with razorx because i was thinking about getting into real estate myself but decided against it for the time being for that reason but if you really want to do it i would suggest taking the class at community college you also might want to check out a book called Rich Dad Poor Dad.
 
Dude, seriously? Now? In the US?

Not sure if you are talking about becoming a Real Estate agent, or just buying a house to live in. If you are just thinking about buying a house for shelter, then yeah, there are people giving them away right now.

But if you are planning on getting a real estate license right now, I would definitely suggest keeping your current job as well.
 
Please stay away from those hotel ballroom seminars with a table in the lobby full of books to sell ! They're usually hosted by people who claim "I've made so much money that I don't need to keep it a secret any longer" or something like that. It's like buying a book on how to make a lot of money. Simply sell a lot of books with that tiltle.
 
well i went to the library and got some books. these are the ones that i got, "real estate 101" by gary eldred. ""the smart money guide to real estate inversting" by gerri willis. "the weekend millionaire's secrets to investing in real estate" by mike summey and roger dawson. "the automatic millionaire homeowner" by david bach. and "start late, finish rich" by david bach.
have any of you all read any of these books? if so what did you think?
im looking to get into it like part time. it would by no means be my full time job as is. but hey, if i can do well in it then it would be great to make some extra money.
 
You need to be licensed to sell real estate. So that means you have to take a test. You can order the books and then pay to take the test or enroll in a class to prepare you. It varies by state so look it up.

The people who do best in real estate are well connected which is to say the richer your friends the better.

It's a commission-only business so you ought to have 6-9 months savings to live on while you build your book. It's a tough hazing process but you can make a nice living for yourself if you make it through the hard times.

Research it on the net and seek out a few successful professionals in your area. The advice they dispense will be the most valuable.
 
I love titles like these

"the weekend millionaire's secrets to investing in real estate"
"the automatic millionaire homeowner"
"start late, finish rich"

I have a few books of my own i've been working on:

"How to become a Trillionaire by Doing Nothing but Reading this Book"
"Free Millions, and my Secret to Finding Them"
"Eat Chocolate, Lose Weight"
"How I Learned to Become Rich by Drinking a Lot and Sleeping In"

Using words like "secret" and "millionaire" in titles is extremely suspicious to me, but as they say you can't judge a book by its cover, though I suspect thats what these authors are counting on.

Getting a Real Estate license is relatively easy. I would just get those materials and take the test, and as Monica suggested, contact someone locally to mentor you. I think you were smart to borrow those books from the library, rather than buy them. Congrats on that! Keep us posted.

Oh, look into forclosure, and short-sale deals in your area, also craigslist is an incredible resource for hidden deals for FSBO homes outside the actual "market".
 
I was licensed in 1973, sold residential for 5 years,commercial since 1977-78. I have never seen it harder than it is currently,and I saw the 73 arab oil Embargo and the 80's FSLIC/FDIC meltdown. You should invest time in this only if you imagine we are going to have a recovery in the next two years.
I work for and have routine and daily conversation with a number of people whose net worth is not in 7 digits,but 8.The thinking ,from their perspective is often expressed" How far is this thing going to fall?" No one knows,but I believe it will not stop until it's run it's course,sort of like two tectonic plates pit against each other until they finally settle. That said,large and very large agricultural and rural properties have changed hands recently,and I expect more of that as the wealthy attempt to find a medium of security.
just my $.02
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I used to work as an accountant for a small commercial real estate brokerage firm in the Dallas area. They did some residential on the side, but primarily commercial. This was the mid 80's right when the savings and loan markets fell.

What everyone has said so far is true. Decide on what you want to sell - residential or commerical - and have about 10 - 12 months of savings to live on, since you will be paid commission only and it'll take some time to build up your contacts. The people who work hard and put forth the effort and are serious about it will be the ones who do well and can make a living. The ones who attend seminars where they only promote "how to get rich" books and think they too can get rich by only reading a few books will fail.

What I gathered from working at the firm was all of the salesmen there were good at selling ANYTHING - cars, houses, office space, newspapers, anything. They had the salesman's touch. They could sell ice to eskimos. They not only knew the market, but also they knew how to read people and their feelings, thoughts, etc.

First get a real estate license, then if you want to sell or buy, you'll be in good shape to work when the market turns around.
 
I don't think the original poster was thinking about real estate commision sales, i think he was asking about real estate investing. If you have no background in real estate, i'd encourage you to sit on the sidelines for at least a year before dipping into it. The economy as a whole got into trouble from unregulated banks buying mortgage backed securities that boomed in the sub-prime market. Since the crash of that market there has been a glut of foreclosed homes, unfinished construction and unsold houses on the market. Real estate hasn't bottomed out and no one knows when it actually will, some are saying as early as 3rd q 2009, but i have my doubts. The flippers who made serious money in the early part of the decade who got caught holding onto property when the bottom fell out got severely burned. Guys who made millions lost millions. That being said, here in the US the need for housing grows by about 3.5 million homes per anum due to increasing population and immigration so eventually, that surplus will get bought. Now the boom , i would say shifts to RENTALS. Property management. Those people who own residential real estate and can't move it on the open market are desperate to get it to make any money possible to cover their mortgages and their taxes. A good property manager can make 15% monthly commission off of rental income if s/he can maintain occupancy. Another gold mine is foreclosures, specifically, the bottom end of the foreclosure market, the condemned homes. Banks are desperate to get these dogs off of their books to avoid property taxes and if it's in a depressed area, like Detroit, for example, youcan get them for pennies on the dollar. The downside is that they must, by law, be brought up to code and most need major repair in the neighborhood of $10-30k, but after the sweat equity is built up, you have a viable home to put on the market. How cheap are these homes? Potentially giveaway price, i'm talking like $1000. So a good scenario would be to research the foreclosures in your area, buy one for say $5000, spend $30000 fixing it up and getting it up to code, occupy it as your residence paying off that 35k mortgage for say less than $300/ month (way cheaper than any rent anywhere) and list it for 60-70k. If it sells this year, BAM, you just made 30 grand. Go get another one and do it all over again. That's how many flippers operated but they bought/sold more upscale homes. Those "get rich" seminars really work, but you don't have to buy the $500 "program" at the end, they're just selling knowledge that is easily obtainable. There's a ton of good books on the subject down at your local library or Amazon. Here's a great one to start out:

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Weal...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233731681&sr=8-1
 
Ya, I was merely pointing out the other side of the fence from investing, that being residential or commercial sales. If someone wants to fully understand the entire real estate profession, then a well-rounded education in all facets of real estate should be undertaken.
 
thanks all for the info. im not thinking about doing real estate full time, just on the side. i have not strated reading any of those books yet. i will get started reading one of them soon.
im hoping to be able to understand all of it in time. im not really sure what all areas that i want to get into yet. the rrealty is that i dont have a lot of money to invest into a home to fix it up and sell it. as a matter of fact i have no extra money to put into real estate at all. the reason why i thought about real estate in the first place was for a way to put some extra money in my pocket and to start getting into some kind of investing that would generate some much needed cash flow in my life. im very much open for all of the advice you can all give.
 
You seem to have taken from the library all of the books Jeremy mentioned to avoid.
I would love to be a weekend millionaire but it doesn't happen. Take those back to the library and find some real, real estate manuals before you are dumped on by the market.
Maybe Kevin Trudeau has some books like Cancer Secrets they dont want you to know about, or natural cures. He seems to make money on selling books that only steer you to his web sites where you have to pay a fee to get his info. Lots of sarcasm here but beware of any Get Rich, or Quick Ways to Double Bass Pedal Speed in Just one Weekend, scheme.
 
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