Excuses are easy. There will always be something out there that we can use as an excuse to avoid something we are afraid to do or something we would rather not do. Like me and working out for instance.
Investing can be like that. The numbers are hard to argue with, real estate is still historically your best bet for growing wealth.
I occasionally get emails or phone calls from folks who want to talk about investing. These are not calls from investors, but from folks who want to get into it. The call usually starts off with the current market situation and how they want to wait till the market is more healthy. This is where the excuse comes in. If the market was currently going the other way (as it has for the last decade) the excuse would be that homes are too expensive.
The key to that first investment is deciding that your going to do it. Keep searching till you find one and just do it. The market as it is now is actually perfect for investment buyers. There are so many homes out there that the marginal homes are just not going to sell. Don't get me wrong, you still need to move quickly when you find the right property, but you are not going to have every listing disappearing in 48 hours after it gets listed.
All the old rules still apply. Your looking for homes that are the least attractive on their street. Homes that need paint, landscaping, new carpet, etc. These are homes that need a facelift.
To find these homes you should be using an agent to search the MLS, the papers to find homes for sale by owner and your feet or your car to find sellers that have just plopped a for sale sign in their yard and done nothing else.
All the experienced investors will tell you that they make their money at the PURCHASE not the sale. That means buying right. But you cannot buy right till you get over the first psychological hurdle of buying at all.
Make the search for your fist investment a scheduled part of your week. Get into the habit of keeping an eye out and searching for opportunities. In addition to the above suggestions, keep your eyes out for homes that have for rent signs out front that never go away. This is particularly true if the home looks a little run down. Use your agent to find out who owns it, they can also find out the mailing address of the owner. If they are out of towners, you might just have yourself a prime candidate for you to make an offer.
Is there a rundown home somewhere in your neighborhood? Do you NEVER see cars in the driveway? Check out that home with your agent. Find out if the owners address is different than the address of the home itself. It does not happen often but you would be amazed how many homes sit vacant and ignored for one reason or another.
Hopefully, the process of searching will increase your comfort level with the actual investment. Trust me, I know how scary it can be. Even after I did dozens of successful investment deals with my clients, the prospect of investing myself still scared me.
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