If you are looking for a long-term commitment to this business, then you need to establish up-front that you will need to set-aside some money from each of your transactions/deals to re-invest in your education, AND it is probably in your best interest to start with one strategy and be prepared to switch to a different strategy once these goals are met.
As an example, let’s say you ultimately want to be a developer (like Donald Trump, or Sam Zell, or Trammell Crow), but today you have a job and are $50,000 in debt. Your first step might be to generate quick cash over the next year to pay off the debt, then half way investment property through making this happen (say in month six) begin the process of implementing a strategy to generate enough income from your real estate investing to leave your job, then after you have created a stable base (enough to pay bills and then some) from your investing activity, to start a plan to become a developer. All together, this may require three different strategies.
A “Classic” mistake that many novice investors would make is to attempt all three strategies AT THE SAME TIME – DO NOT DO THIS!!! Better to learn a strategy for quick cash, master it, then move on, then to attempt to learn three strategies at the same time.
OLD AFRICAN PROVERB: “He Who Chases Two Tigers Ultimately Gets None”
Regardless of the Strategy to start with, history has shown that people who FOCUS their time, energy and money, are more likely to succeed than those who do not.Be Patient – Be Focused – Start Small, Grow Big.RECAP: Rule Number One is: FOCUS-FOCUS-FOCUS
RULE NUMBER TWO: YOU LEARN BY DOING!The second important thing to know about real estate investing is that you learn by doing! We know that there are a lot of late-night infomercials which say “Come to our FREE seminar, spend $5,000, and tomorrow you will wake up a Millionaire – but the problem is we have never found anyone who will admit that this really worked. Also, there are people who spend good money going to college, or graduate school and study how to “succeed in real estate”, and by and large, this can work, if you then go on to commit to 25-40 years working as an employee of a real estate firm, making someone else rich – if you are fortunate enough, you may learn, enough (over time) and then go out on your own.
And yes, we all know of people who buy every book, every tape, and go to every seminar, and become walking real estate investing “Encyclopedia’s” – BUT NEVER DO ANYTHING WITH IT – BAD IDEA! Why, because if you never put into practice what you read, or hear, you will ultimately convince yourself that “this real estate thing” does not work – UNFORTUNATELY, both history and Forbes Magazine would prove you wrong.