Posted by S. Butler on October 25, 2000 at 20:51:06:
You’ll have to ask yourself what are your investment goals. Do you want to make money selling real estate by being a Real Estate Agent? Do you want to be a property investor for single family homes? Would you want to get into multiple family rental units? The options are endless.
A good place to start would be to pick up the local papers and start studying the general market in your area. In order to do any of the above, one really needs to understand the area where they will be involved in real estate (city, county, township, etc.)
No matter if you’re into real estate for a living or just part time, as an investor, a person can really screw up a transaction by either charging too much (listing the property beyond the market value) or offering too much (buying on the high end). It’s up to you to know what is a good deal.
Start with local papers, call an agent or two and see if you can find any willing to answer questions regarding the general areas you want more info on. This will get the brain cells warmed up and I’m sure you’ll find specific areas of interest once you get started in talking with people.
Key: ask questions if you don’t know. Never try to make it look like you know more than you do or you may end up regretting it. I’ve always felt that honesty is the best policy - even in real estate.
Good luck!