Last week, I was having lunch at Houston’s in the Galleria with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a while. After some catching up, he revealed that after 15 years of two steps forward three steps back, his retirement had grown by just $10K. Not good. So, he was strongly considering investing in real estate long term (good call!) but just didn’t know where or how to start. That’s all the invitation I needed – The notepad was out and over the next two hours (that felt like 15 minutes) I laid out what I thought was the right strategy for his goals. I could see the “gears” in his mind spinning faster than the RPMs on a Maserati. It all made sense to him. Then he asked THE question: How do you find a great investment property? It’s a great question I get every single time with an investor that’s just starting out. The following is my response to that question. [Read more...]

In this series of posts, I will show you step by step, how to buy your first investment property. Consider this your guide to find the right investment property for you, analyze it in depth and invest in it the right way. First, we will discuss the preliminary steps you need to take to set the correct expectations and position yourself for your first acquisition. This is absolutely necessary considering the amount of misinformation and marketing doublespeak that’s you have probably been exposed to as we all have.

Myths and Misinformation

Truth: The majority of what folks “know” about investing in real estate comes from infomercials, reality shows and other get rich quick “proven systems”. Sad but true. Let’s quickly debunk some of the common myths propagated in them. [Read more...]