Getting Started

Now that you’ve decided to invest in real estate, you may be wondering where to start. Investing in real estate can be buying one home to live in or a multitude of homes, apartments, land, condos, hotels, strip malls, or any other commercial real estate. As you can see there are many different types of real estate to invest in and every investor you talk to will tell you their way is best.
If you do end up investing in real estate you will tend to find your own comfort zone. Most importantly the ultimate decision would be to get started. If you are just starting out you will most likely start small, but you do not need to. You will put just as much effort into purchasing a single family home as you would buying a 100 unit building. The only difference would be the amount of money and you would most likely be out of your comfort zone. So let’s start small and get going.
If you are renting now, then you need to consider purchasing your own home. There is no better time than now to get a super deal on a home. Bank foreclosures are at an all time high and REO’s are being sold at deep discounts. So why not take advantage of that and get a great deal on a home that may have some built in equity. I know everyone is saying not to buy now because we may not have seen the bottom yet. Well if we’re not there we’re pretty dam close. It doesn’t get much worse than this. Real estate prices are the lowest we’ve seen in some time, so why not take advantage of that.
Will it be tough to get the financing? Sure it will. It will probably be tough getting the down payment also. That is what‘s great about buying real estate. There’s more than 1 right answer to every problem out there. The days of going to bank with no money down and getting a no doc loan are over. So are we out of the game? No. It will be the people that can think outside of the box and figure out a way that will be the ones to thrive in a down market.
One thing I do know for sure though is if you need financing you will need great credit. That means finding out where you stand with your credit scores and fixing what needs to be fixed. Start improving your scores anyway you can and lowering your debt if at all possible. If you do have some issues with obtaining financing find out what they are and try to get them resolved as quickly as possible so you can take advantage of buying a home in this down market. Let’s also reiterate on what was just said. Think outside the box. Do what ever it takes. Partner’s, co signers, creative financing, 401K,IRA, credit cards. These are just to name a few. The possibilities are endless. Also be persistent if one bank or source says no, the next one you try may say yes!
Please feel free to comment on this blog and let me know what I can do or write about to help you out. In the mean time go to www.koeproperties.com and get free real estate solution videos. You will then also start getting my monthly newsletter.