Over the next few months, I will be focusing on how to start your real estate investing career. (focusing, but there will be other things..)
As coaches and mentors, we are often asked how to get started: What should we do first? What do we need to know? Where do we go to learn? How do we find motivated buyers and sellers?
I am going to do my best to answer these and other questions and to give steps that you can take to set a good foundation for a career investing in real estate.
As with any business start up, a solid foundation is exactly what you need to begin. Start by determining what it is you want to do and why. What made you choose real estate investing? What do you know about what it entails? Who do you know in the business who is successful? Who will you be following?
An important part of creating any business is to emulate someone not only doing what you want to do, but doing it successfully. Do you have someone to follow? The best scenario is that they are close enough for you to be able to talk to this person face-to-face. This is especially important in real estate because, as much as we pay attention to what’s happening nationally, real estate is actually a very local business. Not only does Arizona differ dramatically from what’s happening here in North Carolina, what’s happening in Greensboro differs dramatically from what’s happening in the mountains or at the coast. You must get advice from someone who knows your specific market intimately. This is not an inexpensive business. Don’t get advice from someone who “thinks” they know what is going on in your area.
The first thing you must do is set goals and outline your business plan. This is not a suggestion, it is a requirement and you will only realize the importance of having things written down as you go along in your business. Because we do this ourselves on a regular basis and have seen what it means to other successful business entrepreneurs, we require it of all students. The more detailed and thoughtful you are in your responses to these exercises, the more successful you will be and the faster your business will see results.
Next we set up the business: company name, LLC, business phone number, address and website. All this must be in place before you start because you must have all these items to start your marketing. You will need every bit of this in place before you can find clients, they can find you and you can function as a legal entity signing documents and changing title to properties. We will discuss entity set-up and marketing in detail.
You’ll also determine your target area, price point and expertise. We do not have a one-size-fits-all coaching program where we lay out what you will do and how. Instead, we have you determine your area of interest, your long term and short term goals and we then break it down for you into steps that get you to your target and, just as importantly, keep you from wandering away from your goal. There is a lot of opportunity in real estate and it is easy to get distracted and pulled away from your intention. A clear concentration will take you farther faster than randomly reaching for any opportunity that presents itself.
As we go along, please leave your comments and questions. This is an open forum and all insight is welcome. Don’t hesitate to let me know your questions so whatever you need can be covered.
I look forward to hearing from you and to helping you. To our joint success!
