Planning Your REI Career
I am new to real estate investing, and I think once you've decided that REI is for you, a very important step is to decide that you will take it very seriously and treat it as a business, not a hobby. Though there are exceptions to every rule, it isn't realistic to expect to become a millionaire in your spare time.
Once you've decided to take the business seriously, make a plan. How you start depends largely on your situation. If you have no experience, no money, and bad credit, jumping into REI seems overwhelming or impossible. If this is your situation, you may consider beginning as a bird-dog while you improve your credit, pay off bills, or save money. If you have great credit and some money and at least have the experience of buying your own home, you may consider putting together your first deal.
Because I have decent credit, some starting cash, and no experience, I've decided to begin by birddogging.
My birddogging plan started out something like this:
1. Find investors to work for and get their specs
A. Further notes here
B. What properties are they looking for
C. What areas are they looking to invest in
2. Choose neighborhood(s) to farm.
A. Based on investor's needs
3. Market to find deals
A. Where to place ads
B. What ads will say
C. Where to hand out business cards
4. Follow-up on leads
A. Script to use on phone
5. Do due diligence
A. Details on how to do this
1. More defining details here
6. Take qualified deals to investor
A. All these extra details of mine were found by searching TCI
Of course, my plans are more detailed, and as I research REI, my plan gets more and more detailed. I can look through my plan and notice areas that are lacking in content and search for more info in those areas.
I also have a list of things to do while birddogging that will lead to making my first deal, and eventually no longer need to birddog. The goal is to eventually be a full time REI and have people birddogging for me. My list looks something like this:
. Locate private lenders
. Locate hard lenders
. Research other neighborhoods
. Keep up with community developments
. Network
. Choose a primary and secondary REI method (which will lead to a detailed plan to doing REI full time)
. Locate possible partnerships
. Choose people for your "Team"
Simply put, REI is a very serious endeavor if you want to make serious cash. Managing thousands, and eventually millions, of dollars of debt is not something to be taken lightly. If you want to go from newby to a full time REI, decide to take this seriously and make it your business. Make a plan so you always know where you're going next and how to get there.
Another thing to remember is that everyone can plan to do anything, planning doesn't take any special skills; don't fall victim to "analysis paralysis". Get out there and meet your investors! Place the ads, follow up with your calls, and do the due diligence.
I have found this to be full of great info. I think is will ALL help me do what I am looking for, I thank you for your posting!!
This is what I call origination. Without a plan your success will be limited!