Re: JUST GOT SHOT DOWN - Posted by Frank Chin
Posted by Frank Chin on February 06, 2002 at 06:58:40:
Hi Sue:
I see you’re keeping a lot of encouragement from folks on this board.
Having said that, I could see from following the discussions here that nearly 99% of them started RE on a part time basis, meaning they had a JOB, and did RE part time at nights and weekends at least for quite a while in the beginning. I recall Steve Cook meantioning that he did an incredible amount of research in his area before going full time. But I beleive he had a job when he was doing the resaerch.
Even what Steve did was the exception.
I don’t know how much education you have in RE. Taking RE courses at a college is one. Taking the RE licensing exam course is another, even it you don’t go for the license. I have done both.
Doing flips require an high degree of knowledge of neighborhoods and prices. There’s a rule of thumb that you should look at 100 houses to get a good fix of what values are in you area. It took me 8 months to do it, on weekends and evenings, checking out two properties per week.
Checking out 100 properties means you need a car plus gas to do the driving around in. Then because you have no job and credit, you’ll probably have to line up a hard money lender to swing some deals. Have you thought about that?
There’s been discussions on the plusses and minuses of being a RE agent. One budding RE investor started REI being an agent at a local Century 21.
He actually spent most of his time doing deals, and very little doing cold calling for his boss. He explained that each agent was assigned a certian area, and they’re supposed to call or knock on doors to get to know the owners. He worked as a birddog on the side.
I gathered at the time he had no money and credit, but he cited the advantages of this approach was:
1- He gets to go around and learn about the areas, and get to deduct expenses while he’s doing it.
2- He wears the Century 21 Jacket, so people don’t ask him what he does. They’ll think - oh he’s a RE guy.
3- He got to meet investors and attornies.
After he got his bearings, he went to work as a closer for a title company where he has flexible hours and the chance to meet more investors and attornies and others in the RE business.
I guess what I’m saying is you’ll have to find an approach.
Staring with NO money, NO credit, NO knowledge, NO connections NO approach is very difficult. You’ll have to convert one of the NO’s to a YES.
Frank Chin
