Realestate Deliver

If you have ever considered real estate investment as a way of securing your financial future, you may have many questions about how to go about finding investment properties for beginners. I would like to open your eyes to looking at real estate investing in new and different ways.

First, many real estate gurus will tell you that the best way to get started is to birddog for other, more established investors. Birddogging basically means that you scout around neighborhoods you are familiar with, hoping to find an abandoned or rundown property, which you then refer to an experienced investor who buys it and pays you a fee. The fee is called a referral, or birddog fee.

This can be a good way to get your feet wet, and learn something about how the investing game is played. Unfortunately, it can also be a way to line another investor’s pockets without really getting much in return. Too often, the investor you are working for pays you a mere pittance, and really doesn’t teach you very much to compensate for all the work you are doing on his behalf. If you’re looking for a way to identify investment properties for beginners, there are better methods than birddogging.

Second, many new investors try wholesaling, which is a step above birdogging. this method also involves finding abandoned or rundown properties, but then includes the next step of actually negotiating and buying the property at a wholesale price, and then finding another investor to “flip” the property to, making a profit on the exchange.

There are numerous courses and books available on wholesaling, and plenty of investors have gotten started this way. Be aware, though, that there are a lot of pitfalls in wholesaling property, especially for the inexperienced investor. There is a big learning curve with this type of investing- you really need to understand property and repair values before risking your money.

Short sales are a third way for beginners to buy investment properties. Short selling involves negotiating directly with the bank on a property that is in, or about to be in, foreclosure. Short sales can really turn up some great bargains, but the process is extremely detailed and complicated, and not necessarily for the new investor.