There are two facts that keep the wheel of real estate investing spinning, and that have kept it spinning throughout the ages:
1. Most people want to make money.
2. Most people need a place to live.
Just like any other type of business, real estate investing is all about finding opportunities to make a profit, in this case through fulfilling people’s constantly growing demand and need for a place to live. This has led real estate investing to become one of the most common types of investments of our time, if not straightforward the most common.
There are many great opportunities in the world of real estate investing, and several types of real estate investments and strategies which all exist to serve the same purpose – making money!
For this reason, real estate investing has become one of the most sought out paths to riches that people try to achieve, and it is becoming very common for people to start considering their real estate investing options and possibilities from a young age, and in many cases, as soon as they graduate from college.
But with the increasing number of new and beginner real estate investors who are looking to join the market, failure is also becoming increasingly common in the world of real estate investing. This is due to the large number of inexperienced investors choosing a career in real estate investments without having sufficient knowledge or guidance to help them lead a successful career.
So, in order to try to help as many beginner real estate investors as we can, we have decided to reach out to a few experts in the world of real estate investing to seek out their professional advice.
Real Estate Investing Advice: Part 1
We asked these experts a simple, straightforward question:
“What is your #1 advice for people just starting out in real estate investing?”
So, without further ado, here are some answers that provide invaluable advice to beginner real estate investors and that can help them find the success that they seek in the world of real estate investing:
Seth Williams
Seth Williams is an expert in the world of real estate investing with over 10 years of experience as a successful real estate investor. His website, Retipster.com, is an online source of knowledge, guides, and blogs for real estate investors, and he uses it to guide beginner investors and provide them with knowledge through his own experience in the real estate market.
With his experience as an investor and as a commercial real estate banker, combined with his MBA, Seth has decided to use his experience to provide factual and useful information in a world where misleading sources and misinformation is more common than ever before.
When we reached out to Seth Williams asking him to contribute to this article, he was thrilled to be a part of it, which only shows how enthusiastic he is about providing guidance and advice to beginner real estate investors to help them get a foothold in the highly competitive world of real estate investing.
Seth’s answer to the question was simple, straightforward, and insightful:
“Realize deeply, the learning potential that lives inside of your mistakes.
When you start taking action and moving toward your goals (making offers, talking with property owners, asking questions, discovering where the boundaries are), you’re bound to encounter obstacles, take occasional steps in the wrong direction and try strategies that don’t work. The sooner you make these mistakes, the faster you’ll learn, and as you continue to learn more, you’ll be better equipped to achieve the goals you’ve set out to accomplish as a real estate investor.
When you look at each “mistake” as a learning opportunity, it becomes much easier to take action and explore – and that’s ultimately where success comes from.”
This answer, or should we say this piece of wisdom, is the result of several years of experience in the real estate business, and it is simply and utterly an invaluable advice that every real estate investor, beginner or experienced, should always have engraved in his/her mind.
Mistakes are bound to happen in the world of real estate investing, especially when you lack sufficient experience to avoid them. And while several investors fall off their feet and decide to quit on their money-making dream in the real estate business, Seth’s advice is loud and clear – do not give up on this dream, and use your mistakes to grow and become a stronger real estate investor.
This reminds us of the famous old quote: What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger.
Make sure to check out Seth’s website and blog at Retipster, as you will find plenty of useful blogs and guides that can help you become a better real estate investor.
For the second part of this blog, we will see what Xavier De Buck, owner of Luxury Homes Johannesburg, has to say, and the advice that he has to give to beginner real estate investors.
Real Estate Investing Advice: Part 2
In the previous part of this article, we’ve discussed the difficulties that beginner investors typically face in the real estate investing world, and we saw what Seth Williams from Retipster had to say to beginner real estate investors to help them survive in the business of real estate investing.
The real estate market is a tough market, and mistakes are bound to happen to beginner and experienced investors alike. But Seth believes, and we share his opinion, that mistakes are a natural part of the growth process for any investor, as they will allow the investor to learn from these mistakes and improve the way he/she goes about real estate investments.
But when it comes to real estate investing, different experts will have different opinions or advice that they would consider to be more important for the success of a real estate investing business than others.
In this section of the article, we will discover what Xavier De Buck, a top-producing Johannesburg real estate agent, has to say when asked the same question that was asked to Seth.
Xavier De Buck
When asked the question “What’s your #1 advice for people just starting out in real estate investing?”, Xavier’s answer was divided into 3 major points.
Xavier said:
“One word: education.
Even if you had $5 million to invest right now, I’d still give you that same piece of advice. There’s no need to rush things and start losing money right off the bat! Opportunities in real estate investing will keep presenting themselves, but how will you know which to pursue and which to decline if you don’t really know what you’re getting yourself involved in.”
Xavier’s reply began with a single straightforward answer: Education.
That was the emphasis of his answer, and most real estate experts would agree with Xavier on this point – education will either make you or break you in the real estate investing world.
In this context, the education that Xavier is talking about doesn’t necessarily have to be formal education, but rather the accumulation of knowledge by the individual investor related to all aspects of real estate investing.
In the real estate investing business, the more you know, the less likely you are to face any unexpected problems, and the more likely you are to find solutions for the problems that you might face.
Xavier went on to provide 3 main points related to his answer.
“Education can happen on several levels simultaneously, each at a different pace:
- If you haven’t already, make sure your personal library in your home office is filled with real estate books. I’m serious! There are plenty of real estate related books to be found at secondhand bookstores which will remain valuable, even many years down the line. As you start reading more and more real estate investing books, you will start to lean towards a couple of the top real estate authors. I’ve always been a huge fan of Robert Kiyosaki (“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” being one of my all-time favorite books!).”
Xavier’s main source of knowledge that he urges all real estate investors to stock up on is books.
According to Xavier, in order to grow your knowledge and improve yourself as a real estate investor, you need to obtain and read as many books on real estate as possible.
Books have great value for anyone who’s looking to learn about anything, and the real estate investing world is no different. Now is always the perfect time to start acquiring and reading books, and this should not be a one-time learning process; instead, you should constantly keep working on expanding your base of knowledge through books, and your bookshelves should always be stocked up with new books that can help you learn and grow more as a real estate investor.
- “Become a member of a few major online real estate investment communities, as soon as possible. Not only will these be of enormous help in getting you up to speed in the world of real estate investing, they’ll become a great place to ask questions once you get actively involved in doing it yourself! And of course, it’s a very small world out there, so if you keep an open mind, you’re more than likely to meet investment partners in your area! The BiggerPockets community (and podcast!) immediately springs to mind.”
Xavier’s second recommendation regarding the sources that investors should use in order to expand their real estate knowledge and grow as real estate investors is a source that is at the tip of any investor’s fingers – online sources.
This is a source that is available to all, and real estate investors should take the most advantage out of it. Online communities vary, and in our modern times, you can find an online community for any topic that crosses your mind.
Being part of an online real estate investment community will not only give you access to a network of people who are all involved in the real estate investing world, whether they are investors, agents, or enthusiasts, but will also allow you to learn from other investors’ mistakes (remember what Seth Williams said about the importance of learning from mistakes), as well as get free advice from other individuals in the real estate business who might have more experience and more knowledge than you do.
It’s all about education and knowledge, and the types of sources that are available to you are numerous, so you should use each and every one of them in order to acquire the most amount of information that you possibly can.
- “And last but not least, try to find out via your current network (academics, family, friends, work, etc.) people who they know are actively involved in real estate investing. Reach out to those people, meet up for coffee, explain your situation, real estate investment ambitions and goals, and just ask them if they like to be your mentor. More than likely they’ll either be prepared to help or know someone who might!
Now’s the time to learn, listen and watch as much as you can! And always, always, always keep your focus on the numbers. They never get emotional!”
The last source of education that Xavier mentioned is a source that is all around us all the time: people.
Xavier urges beginner real estate investors to make the most out of the knowledge of others in order to learn more about the real estate investing business, and family, friends, and acquaintances are no different.
While books provide you with a structured and articulate form of education, and while online sources and real estate communities provide you with advice from strangers and connections that can help you grow in the real estate market, the people around you can be your most valuable commodity when it comes to the learning process.
There is no better way to learn about real estate investing than to sit down and talk to someone face-to-face about it, especially if that someone has more experience than you do in the real estate investing business.
Additionally, Xavier mentioned finding a mentor to help you learn all about the ins and outs of the real estate business, and his answer could not be truer. Having a real estate mentor will be like having a private source of knowledge and experience that will be by your side at all times, pointing out your mistakes, helping you become a better investor, and providing you with the knowledge that he/she has learned through years of experience in real estate investing.
This wraps up the second part of this article and the advice that Xavier believes would help beginner real estate investors grow and learn in order to become better investors.
The above contribution was provided by Xavier De Buck, a top-producing Johannesburg (South Africa) real estate agent, who’s passionate about the property market, technology and the synergy of both!
Stay tuned for the third part of this article, where we will have an additional answer related to real estate agents that can help them get a foothold in the highly competitive market of real estate investing.
Real Estate Investing Advice: Part 3
In the previous sections of this article, we’ve taken a look at what Seth Williams and Xavier De Buck had to say to beginner real estate investors to help them get started and find success in the business of real estate investing.
Seth and Xavier, both professionals with several years of experience in the real estate investing business, provided their advice on the habits that they believe beginner investors should adopt in their life and in their careers in order to find success in the real estate investing world.
While Seth’s advice was focused on learning from the mistakes that investors might – and probably will – make through the early stages of their investment careers, and how these mistakes can help shape up investors and improve their decision making, Xavier’s advice focused more on the education side of the real estate world, advising investors to stock up on books, engage in online real estate investing communities, and learn from people around them, all for the sake of maximizing the amount of knowledge and information that they learn about real estate investing in order to prepare them for their careers.
Both Xavier and Seth provided us with great insights and valuable advice, and we urge all beginner real estate investors to follow their advice, as well as their online blogs and websites if they intend to find success in their real estate investing careers.
In this final section of the article, we will take a look at one last piece of advice that, unlike the other two, will focus on real estate agents instead of real estate investors.
Since real estate agents play an invaluable role in the real estate market, helping beginner and expert investors alike to close their deals and make successful investment decisions, we thought the advice provided below can be of great value for both real estate investors and agents alike as it will help investors have more realistic expectations when it comes to dealing with an agent, letting them realize the challenges that come with being a real estate agent.
Debbie Drummond
Debbie Drummond is a professional real estate agent who specializes in Las Vegas luxury homes.
With over 14 years of experience in the real estate business, Debbie is always up to date on the latest market trends and the most current technologies. Debbie and her staff provide a 5-star service to their clients, helping real estate investors close successful deals and find success in the real estate market.
When asked about her number one advice for people just starting out in the real estate investing business, Debbie’s answer aimed towards helping real estate enthusiasts who choose the career path of real estate agency.
“Nasser, thanks for including me in this article. There are several things new agents should know. First, real estate is like any other business. You need a business plan. You need to have enough money set aside to invest in marketing your services. You’ll need to pay for continuing your education. It’s a good idea to have funds to survive for at least six months, preferably a year.”
Debbie’s first advice for real estate agents was straightforward: being a real estate agent means having your own business to manage. And just like any other business, you will need to have a solid plan in order to find success. However, the difference between a career as a real estate agent and most other businesses is that as an agent, and especially at the earliest stages of your career, you should expect to go months without receiving any paychecks, so you should have sufficient funds to survive until you’ve closed your first deal.
For this reason, Debbie advises beginner real estate agents to have enough money saved up to survive for 6 months to a year before they even consider starting their business.
We agree with Debbie, and we add that there are numerous real estate agents who face failure and quit their careers during the first year due to finding themselves in situations where they do not have sufficient funds to run their own businesses because they were too optimistic about making money in the early stages of the business.
Debbie went on to say “Second, be prepared physically and mentally. Real estate can sound like a fun, even glamorous profession. It can be but it takes a lot of work. You will need the physical stamina to put in long days when an out of state buyer needs time to go back for a second look. You’ll need the mental stamina to deal with stressful situations. Buying and selling a home is an important step for our clients. Sometimes they have unrealistic expectations, especially when it comes to price. Be prepared to stay calm even when they’re reacting badly.”
The second piece of advice that Debbie provided was focused more on the nature of the career of a real estate agent. Debbie’s advice came in the form of a warning for real estate agents who believe that a career as an agent is an easy career. This is a common misconception among people who believe that having their own business and being their own boss is an easy thing to pull off.
However, according to Debbie, a career as a real estate agent has much more to it, and it will require a great deal of time and effort invested in order to lead a successful career.
Additionally, Debbie mentioned the aspect of working with clients and real estate investors and being ready to deal with their expectations, which might sometimes be unrealistic, leading some clients to sometimes be disappointed with the outcomes of a real estate deal. Debbie says this is a natural part of the job, and a real estate agent should realize that in order to keep calm, he/she should be prepared to face these challenges.
A career as a real estate agent is a stressful career, and while you might be in charge of your own work schedule, to find success and to satisfy your clients, you will have to work unexpected hours and at unusual times in order to meet your client’s expectations and provide them with the services that they deserve.
“Once you’ve established a consistent business, don’t forget to plan for the future. Put some of your commissions away for taxes. As soon as possible start a retirement account before spending your money. And don’t forget to put some of your income away for marketing and advertising.”
Debbie’s final piece of advice was more concerned with managing your finances as a real estate agent.
While a career as an agent can be very profitable, and you might find yourself with a lot of money in your pockets, you should always use that money with caution and have the future of your business in mind.
Having your own business means that you are responsible for all the expenses and taxes that will result from it, and you will need to have a solid financial plan in order to survive in the future. Money management is a crucial thing for any individual, and it is extra important for real estate agents as their careers will heavily rely on it. Facing a shortage of money might lead your career to failure, and in order to avoid that, you will need to be prepared to face the unexpected and come out triumphant.
You can follow Debbie Drummond and check out her agency on her website The Las Vegas Luxury Home Pro. You can also check out her blogs and articles which tackle more issues and provide more tips and advice to help both real estate agents and real estate investors lead a successful career.
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