Real estate investing

[Craig234]

Who would you go to for someone to have expertise in selecting a region for rental property, the best type (single-family, multi-plex, etc.), and other considerations?

There are agents who will sell you 'what you want' if you ask for something specific. Agents who will sell you anything if you let them choose. And general books and such not specific to a buyer.

What about someone who sells investing suggestions, with expertise, in a consulting role? Or is each investor expected to reinvent the wheel and evaluate all these options?

For example, for franchise investors, there's at least a reasonable amount of information available ranking franchises, and companies who specialize in 'filtering' at least.

Of course there is no shortage of investment advice for financial products, e.g., mutual funds.

 

[zinfamous]

TBH, there are plenty of late-night infomercial hucksters that are more than willing to sell you volumes of this information when you subscribe to their methods and courses for the low, introductory price of $29.99 per month for two years.

I promise that before the day is over, one of them will be posting in this thread.

 

[Craig234]

TBH, there are plenty of late-night infomercial hucksters that are more than willing to sell you volumes of this information when you subscribe to their methods and courses for the low, introductory price of $29.99 per month for two years.

I promise that before the day is over, one of them will be posting in this thread.

They're available, and of course not what's needed.

 

[highland145]

Get some recommendations on a decent realtor. Bought 2 if mine that way. Tell them what you want and what you want to pay.

Do not go low income/section 8...OMG, pita. I made $$ overall but damn...

Sold everything when I opened here. I am thinking about buying again but it will have to be a better clientele.

 

[Mai72]

TBH, there are plenty of late-night infomercial hucksters that are more than willing to sell you volumes of this information when you subscribe to their methods and courses for the low, introductory price of $29.99 per month for two years.
I
promise that before the day is over, one of them will be posting in this thread.

Sad that this is your mindset on real estate. The wealthy have always used real estate to build and protect their wealth. If it's done correctly, real estate can be a great source of passive income. People are always going to need a place to live. That's going to increase as the aging baby boomers downgrade from their large homes and into small apartments, condos, etc.

I agree. Tere are con men in real estate. You just have to do your work and take your time.

 

[zinfamous]

Sad that this is your mindset on real estate. The wealthy have always used real estate to build and protect their wealth. If it's done correctly, real estate can be a great source of passive income. People are always going to need a place to live. That's going to increase as the aging baby boomers downgrade from their large homes and into small apartments, condos, etc.

I agree. Tere are con men in real estate. You just have to do your work and take your time.

Oh, that's not my mindset on real estate. Not at all what I was saying. I was just predicting this post is all.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You could go with a REIT fund so the risk is spread out over an array of properties and picking them is left up to people who do it as their full-time job.

I'd rather read a book or watch Netflix than deal with properties, so I do all my investing through low-expense index funds. Buy, hold over decades, spend just a few hours a year buying more of them.

 

[Darwin333]

TBH, there are plenty of late-night infomercial hucksters that are more than willing to sell you volumes of this information when you subscribe to their methods and courses for the low, introductory price of $29.99 per month for two years.

I promise that before the day is over, one of them will be posting in this thread.

I am always amazed that these people claim to have made untold millions with their idea but still need to hawk it for $29.99.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I am always amazed that these people claim to have made untold millions with their idea but still need to hawk it for $29.99.

The same with the stock investment gurus. If your get-rich-quick scheme really worked, you'd be a billionaire from stock trading not a millionaire from peddling your scheme to gullible innocents. Does Warren Buffet star in late-night infomercials hawking some $99.95 system? I didn't think so.

 

[Darwin333]

The same with the stock investment gurus. If your get-rich-quick scheme really worked, you'd be a billionaire from stock trading not a millionaire from peddling your scheme to gullible innocents. Does Warren Buffet star in late-night infomercials hawking some $99.95 system? I didn't think so.

Even beyond that, you'd be investing your time into implementing your great system, not developing and marketing your system so other people can compete with you.

People who make a ton of money doing anything aren't the assholes you will find on late night infomercials. Hell if you are making or made that much money with your unique "system" then why the hell do you need to peddle it for a few pennies on late night TV? They couldn't possibly make anything near what they made with their highly successful "system".

 

[tortoise]

Bob Massi on crowdfunding . . http://video.foxnews.com/v/4423744791001/?#sp=show-clips.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Even beyond that, you'd be investing your time into implementing your great system, not developing and marketing your system so other people can compete with you.

People who make a ton of money doing anything aren't the assholes you will find on late night infomercials. Hell if you are making or made that much money with your unique "system" then why the hell do you need to peddle it for a few pennies on late night TV? They couldn't possibly make anything near what they made with their highly successful "system".

If people are stupid enough to go to those events, it's not a matter of if their money will be taken it's just a matter of whom will take it.

 

[Darwin333]

If people are stupid enough to go to those events, it's not a matter of if their money will be taken it's just a matter of whom will take it.

Quite true.

 

[DietDrThunder]

The same with the stock investment gurus. If your get-rich-quick scheme really worked, you'd be a billionaire from stock trading not a millionaire from peddling your scheme to gullible innocents. Does Warren Buffet star in late-night infomercials hawking some $99.95 system? I didn't think so.

I agree with you, but I do have to say that Warren Buffet does have a cult like following. I own class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway and my wife and I decided for fun to go to the annual meeting. We were WAY turned off by the almost cultist mentality of the people we met there. We cancelled our hotel after the first night and came home.

 

[Craig234]

Interesting there are no actual answers on this posted.

 

[highland145]

Who would you go to for someone to have expertise in selecting a region for rental property, the best type (single-family, multi-plex, etc.), and other considerations?
.

Get some recommendations on a decent realtor.

Maybe we aren't the problem.

 

[NetWareHead]

Get some recommendations on a decent realtor. Bought 2 if mine that way. Tell them what you want and what you want to pay.

Do not go low income/section 8...OMG, pita. I made $$ overall but damn...

Sold everything when I opened here. I am thinking about buying again but it will have to be a better clientele.

This x 1000

Section 8 and low income can work in the right set of circumstances for the right person but they are not for the green investor or landlord. If you want rental properties, learn how to be an effective and good landlord first and then try section 8. Hate to say it but many section 8 tenants are scam artists and many newbie landlords will get their pants pulled down over a deal. There are some good section 8 tenants who genuinely deserve to be on this program. I.E. some elderly , disabled or poor but the majority of them just abuse the system or are poor business prospects who cant get an apartment rental anywhere else due to poor or nonexistent rental, work or credit history.

Agree on using a realtor. They should know the market and have the data you need to make the right purchase at their fingertips.

 

[Craig234]

Maybe we aren't the problem.

Not sure what you're saying. Not many realtors can do what I was asking.

 

[highland145]

I'd expect a decent realtor, that handles rentals, to have a clue about what areas are hot and which ones to avoid for reasons. I do live in a relatively small city though (40K).

 

[dullard]

Interesting there are no actual answers on this posted.

The problem is that if someone really knew of a great investment, why would that person not just buy that great investment? Selling advice to single one-off people is far less profitable than just making that great investment directly. The best way to really profit from giving advice is to go big and go national.

 

[highland145]

The problem is that if someone really knew of a great investment, why would that person not just buy that great investment? Selling advice to single one-off people is far less profitable than just making that great investment directly. The best way to really profit from giving advice is to go big and go national.

It's a million $ property going for 1/2 a mil. You still need to come up with half a mil.

 

[dullard]

Who would you go to for someone to have expertise in selecting a region for rental property, the best type (single-family, multi-plex, etc.), and other considerations?

There are agents who will sell you 'what you want' if you ask for something specific. Agents who will sell you anything if you let them choose. And general books and such not specific to a buyer.

What about someone who sells investing suggestions, with expertise, in a consulting role? Or is each investor expected to reinvent the wheel and evaluate all these options?

For example, for franchise investors, there's at least a reasonable amount of information available ranking franchises, and companies who specialize in 'filtering' at least.

Of course there is no shortage of investment advice for financial products, e.g., mutual funds.

With mutual funds, it isn't a you or me thing. Someone who finds a great real-estate investment is best off buying it themselves rather then telling you. But with mutual funds, you both can buy it, each of which helps the other buyer's price go up. So, people don't have an incentive to give you specific real estate advice.

So, the best you can do is to have general advice.

• Buy local. Having 5 homes scattered over 5 states is not easy, doesn't give you economies of scale, and will just tear you into 5 directions.
• With real estate, go big or don't do it. Having just one rental property nets you next to no income and is a bunch of hassle. But having 5+ rental properties is enough to live off of so it can be your main career. Also, you can then have one good relationship with a plumber, electrician, etc that you use repeatedly for trust and for better prices.
• Know your market. Look at a lot of real estate before you buy your first property. Get to know the value of something, so you can pounce the instant you see a great deal rather than start the debate and lose the opportunity before you made up your mind to buy it. A good real estate agent can help with this portion.

 

[dullard]

It's a million $ property going for 1/2 a mil. You still need to come up with half a mil.

Or a few thousand dollars into a real-estate fund that invests in that million dollar property.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Or a few thousand dollars into a real-estate fund that invests in that million dollar property.

He doesn't consider a REIT a "real answer," perhaps because it's too safe or too easy?

 

[Craig234]

He doesn't consider a REIT a "real answer," perhaps because it's too safe or too easy?

That's not correct, but the sarcastic tone precludes bothering to explain.