How do you get started, I mean really started, in real estate investing? How do you take any plan from an idea to a real business that will earn you money? Well the first thing that happens is you find out that much of what you assume is wrong. Lynn and I both had access to some cash, enough for what we thought was a decent down payment on a property, about 20%. Lynn had found a paying website for real estate professionals “http://www.loopnet.com” that allowed us to look at available properties by region or neighborhood. We signed up and split all the counties in a 50-mile radius between us. Why did we choose 50 miles? It seemed like a reasonable distance for us to drive to check properties out, not very scientific, but you have to start somewhere.
So, come Sunday morning when my wife gave me some time off from the kids I sat down with Loopnet and started looking up properties. It was great, practically 80% of the properties seemed like great deals with great monthly income, at least if you believed everything the listings said. Lynn and I met a few days later to compare notes, it was a great meeting, dollar signs flashed across our eyes, there seemed like so many opportunities, it was just a matter of picking the best one. We picked a 4-unit property in a good area with an 8% annual profit from rent, and decided to look deeper. One task Lynn wanted to do before we put serious time into this was to pass the property by her dad, who has been a real estate professional just to see if we were going in the right direction. You won’t believe what we found. (to be continued).