I am a Realtor and I want to start investing in real estate. I am new to this and have a lot of learning to do. What would you do in my situation? What would be the best route to take to get started?

Thanks

Ask your broker for some advice, see if there are any investment clubs or people interested in forming a investment club.
Talk to a mortgage broker about getting qualified to finance.
Take a hard look at the market in your area, is it on the decline or holding steady?
Find out about rent values and so forth.
Talk to some area appraisers, they look at a lot of property and could really help you find out about certain neighborhoods.

Decide how much you can afford to loose, sounds silly but you are talking about investing right, there are no sure bets.

Maybe go to a couple foreclosure auctions and smooze with the people who seem to be in the know.

That should get you started.

Best of luck

http://www.reiclub.com

http://www.dealmakerscafe.com

http://www.narei.com

http://www.creonline.com

This should give you a start........

thecreativeinvestor.com

http://www.cfhouses.com

http://www.kevianpartners.com

These should also be of some help to get you going...

Plan. When you have enough info build a plan for one of the properties. It should be very simple. Just know one or two scenarios. See if you can hold the property or whatever kind of deal you want to do. se if you've got enough cash and so on and on.

Don't plunge into the deep end yourself. Find someone you can learn from and do deals with. The time is right for short sales. We will help you get started on your first couple. No cost. You set em up, we'll knock 'em down and split the profit

Bill Young

Personally what I did in the beginning was to go to a few auctions and watch. I made friends with a few investors and partnered with them for my first couple of deals.

I'll be honest the first few had a bit of a learning curve and doing the research was by far the most time consuming aspect of the deal. (Which is why in my later years I developed a software program to handle a large percentage of my research for me).

Once I had the lead, I would 'door-knock'--go to the person's house and talk to them. If you have a good attitude and know how to relate to people (not act like a vulture), they will usually work with you.

The best thing you can do is to find a mentor who invests in your area of interest and offer to do some sort of trade. Offer your services in exchange for education.

The last thing you want to do is dive into something that wont work, or you hate.

Don't believe the hype that you can get rich with no money, no credit, no brains, and no effort.

First you need to figure out what you want your investing to accomplish. Income or long term wealth building.

Then you pick your strategy to accomplish your goals.
Then you learn everything you can about using that strategy.
Next you get the pieces in place,(financing, team members, etc..)
Then you execute your plan.

Most newbies, try to "FIND A DEAL" and buy something without understanding what is required and wind up in trouble.