I am thinking of trying to get into real estate investing and had a few questions for you experts out there.

First let me set the scenario and go from there. First, I am a 24 teacher. I just recently bought my first home with my wife. I am not looking to make this my life, and I am not looking for the get rich quick scheme that will promise to make me millions over night. I have always had an interest in real estate, and with the 3 months I get off every summer I was hoping to find a way to break into the market. As I start to invest my money I want to try and find the niche that works best for me.

The first thing I want to ask is can real estate investing be done as a part time deal? Like I said before,three months a year I can focus directly on my real estate, but the rest of the year it would take a backseat to my teaching/coaching jobs.

What do I need to do in order to get more involved? I have been reading the forums for a bit, and like anything the more information you can get your hands on the better. That being said, is there a particular way some of have found more effective when a person has tried to break in?

Thank you very much for any help you all may be able to give. Also, please do not feel bad if say this is just not something you can part time. In the end that will save me a whole lot of money and headache

Dear Dave,
First of all, I hope you don't teach English, because I would hate it if I had a school-aged child trying to learn spelling and grammar from you.

There are many ways to get into investing. Do you want to fix and flip? Buy multi-family units and deal with tenants? Buy REIT's? Own storage units? Do you have some start-up money?

Despite what you may see on the infomercials, you really need to have some form of capital. Money you can put to work without it causing a strain on your family. If you have equity in a home, you may be able to tap into that with a home equity line of credit.

Owner occupied properties are easier to finance than non-owner-occupied. Could you see yourself living in one unit and renting out others?

There's many different ways to go about it. Read, read, read about the different ways. Figure out your risk tolerance. Figure out if you have the kind of personality to deal with tenants. Do you have handyman skills? Would you be paying someone else to do repairs?

I started with a small foreclosure house that cost me $8,000, using collateral from another source. I later sold the home for more than double what I paid for it, after renting it out for several years. Those are small dollars, it's true, but the principle is the same even if you're going after a more valuable property.

Most investors will tell you that you make your money buying at the right price. So that means you need to research your area so that you recognize a buying opportunity when you see it.

Sorry about the grammar in the first post. I guess I should read my post more carefully before pushing that submit button.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. We do have a good amount of equity in our house that we just bought. We put down 20%, which came out to a little over $32,000. From everything I have read and learned I am going to stay away from any type of 100% financing deals. There just does not seem to be any wiggle room for unforseen expenses.

I would love to find a small home like the one you described as you got started. I do not want to take a multi-family with my first investment. I would like to find a single family that could be rented out for a while and then sold. I have some handyman skills, but some repairs I would have to pay for.

What techniques do you use when it comes to researching the area? Do you use county records to try and asses value, or go by sales history?

Also, what is the difference between a short sale and foreclosure? Which of the two gives more room for negotiating? What did you find to be the best resource when looking for a foreclosure?

Thanks

I would recommend teaming up with a good local realtor who can help you do research. I check
http://www.foreclosure.com
for local foreclosures. No site is perfect, but that one is pretty good. It won't give you exact addresses unless you subscribe. Some of the others just snag their material from other websites. Most foreclosures also are listed in the MLS, so that's always a good place to look. I also check for local HUD listings, read my daily paper for upcoming auctions and keep my eyes open for properties with unplowed driveways, overgrown lawns, windows with stickers on them posted by utility companies or property management companies. When I find one that looks interesting I check it in public records to find out the assessed value, for a ballpark idea if there is more owed than the property is worth, and if there has been a recent sale. Properties being sold at the court house may have encumbrances such as second mortgages, IRS liens, unpaid taxes and so forth. The owners may have owed more money than the house is worth. It's good to have an attorney or title company that can help you uncover problems ahead of the sale.

Once you figure out your plan, include your realtor in your planning. They can alert you to new opportunities.

There are sometimes opportunities in short sales; however, this is a grueling, lengthy buying process that frequently doesn't work out. The above-mentioned website may give you properties for which a lis pendens has been filed, or recent bankruptcies. The owners of these homes are headed for foreclosure unless they find a way to work it out. It is possible to contact them and try to work a deal.

You can also physically go to your local county clerk's office or wherever public records are stored and ask to go through lis pendens and other such documents.

It boils down to doing a lot of homework, and you will need to work with several local trusted people: a contractor, a title company or attorney, a good real estate agent, possibly a home inspector.

I found the home I now live in because there was an auction notice posted at the post office! So be alert; you never know when or where your opportunity may come from.

I think with younger people beginning to text message like crazy, with all the abbreviations and shortcuts, the idea of people using perfect spelling and grammer is now officially as dead as the Latin language. Ha, Ha.

You may find some investment clubs available who invite newcomers. We have a few here in Houston. Those guys will give you the investor side of things...up to and including how to use real estate agents to do the dirty work before cutting them out of the deal. However, it is one more source for you if you are interested in learning investing. You are young...go for it. One thing I have always practiced in my career is not to take on something until I was the best at what I was currently doing. That worked extremely well for me until I got into real estate.

Anyway, good luck to you.

It is all about what you'd expect out of your investment. If you expect a very high return within a short period of time, you need to devote more time and effort. If you plan for the long-term, e.g., as a part of your retirement portfolio, you can do it on a part-time basis.

You are young and time is on your side. Even if you go through the real estate market downtime, you can ride it out. Many have said that the real estate market return fares well, if not better, than the stock market.

Maybe you could try bird dogging during your three month vacation period for a year or two until you decide which area of investing you are most comfortable with. You'll get an education and build some seed capital in the process.

Dear Dave,
Don’t worry about spelling, I don't think that your critics spell better:-) and we are not in English class here.

About the 100% financing I would say just do it, depend what equity you will have on your house. If you buy a house with 30% equity and finish up with 15% after repair you are good.

Good luck!

Dave

Your not even close to committing to anything or making a decision. To your general question can you start part time, yes.

Do you need a lot of money, no. I started with what would be about $500 in todays money, and I had zero credit.

Now do what you should have learned in college. Do some serious research, check out books at the library, go online to sites like this and creonline and start reading the archives, read and read and you will find out investing is a job and not some passing whim. Buy a book or two at the bookstore and start your investing library. Keep a notebook. When you finally have a foundation of some kind then ask specific questions and we can help.

Dave - Bay area Brian is spot on.

You can do this part time and there are many methods that require zero cash.

Do your research and attend a couple of REIA meetings and figure out what appeals to you most.

The national reia site might list one or more near you.
http://www.nationalreia.com

Chris

100 financing should be the only way to go. It's all about leverage. When you invest in real estate you should use OPM (Other peoples money)

Dave, a short sale happens when someone is forced into foreclosure because of default. So basically foreclosure property sales are part of short sale. They aren't different, rather interdependent.

Dave –

Dabbling in Real estate part-time is possible. But it is important that you keep up-to-date on market behavior all through the year and not just for those three months. Keeping a tab on the Real estate market can help you observe and calculate your investments and opportunities better. Thorough ground-work is the best way to go about in a new field.
For detailed information about real Estate investing, please visit - http://www.jasonhartman.com

I never consider investment to be part time
and always find time and the other thing is that you can have good deals on weekends too

Investing can be good, and it can be done with very little money down.

Having said that, you NEED TO BECOME A EXPERT! Investing can be great, but like anything else, it can become a quick money pit and you can loose quite a bit of money.

Hook up with a local Realtor that works with people in your position. I've teamed up with many first-time investors and showed them how to make a profit. You have to understand as much as possible in order to make money, what you don't know can harm you a ton.