Real estate isn't as hard as most people think it is, intimidating? Yes, but hard, no. The paperwork at closing is really the hardest part of it (I just closed on my new house yesterday and it took around 3 hours due to some paperwork issues). As far as just starting out, you guys already know homework is the most important thing as you can't just buy any ole place and expect the money to just roll in. I've always wanted to and eventually hope to own an apartment complex, so I bought and read this book over and over again and it gives great information on doing research on the market and other things
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0471684058/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1388640806&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40)
The first place I ever bought was in my home town, Clayton county which is considered the hood to most of Atlanta. I did my research and found a nice little 1400 Sf house for around 20k. It was a foreclosure and the bank fixed it up to sell it. I bought with the intention to rent it out later but I also wanted to experience the buying processs plus I was tired of giving up rent money myself. When all was said and done it took about a month to close and all I had to pay was taxes and insurance for the year (much better than renting for 700 a month). After I lived in it for a bit I decided to buy another house in a better neighborhood in clayco for myself. That happened and I hired a property management company to take care of and rent out the place. They took care of everything, found someone to rent my place at the price of a 12% cut of the monthly income.
The point of me telling this long ass story about my first real estate purchase is to show it isn't that hard. You just have to to your research on the area and market and the numbers have to be right. I would suggest starting out cheap if you haven't bought anything before so you can get the feel of buying a property and so you'll have a place in your name where you won't have to pay rent anymore. When you get comfortable enough, you can either advertise yourself to rent it out or you can be like me and hire a company to handle everything for you. It doesn't take much to start off. Find a townhouse with a garage in a nice neighborhood or something and use places like zillow.com to get the history of the properly value and whatnot. If you dint have the cash to buy a cheap place in full, do know you will need to have a 10-20% down payment of the purchase price when you go to the mortgage company. And don't be afraid o lowball. To me it's just like buying a car on a larger scale with more paperwork.
I know I'm leaving alot of stuff out, but I'm not trying to write a book tonight. Plus I'm typing all of this on my phone considering I don't have internet at my new home for now (sucks). So if there are any typos, that's why. I do hope this information help you guys and other coli brothers out though. And as always I don't mfind sharing this information considering the plate is too big for anyone to eat off of my side. There is room in this business for everyone.