Advice from Nashville's Financial Guru Dave Ramsey

Dave Says
By Dave Ramsey
Author of Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover
9/20/2004

What is the best way to get into real estate?

Dear Dave, 

I used to work for the city as a property appraiser. I really enjoyed the job and developed an interest in real estate after seeing what investors were doing with their purchases. What's the best way to get started in real estate investing? 

Brad in Lakeland, Fla.
 

Dear Brad, 

The best way to get started is to find other investors. If there is a real estate investor's club in your area, join, go to meetings and hang out with people who do what you want to do. 

Talk to investors who've been doing this a long time - five years or longer. If they've survived five or ten years, then you're getting hold of somebody who has been conservative and has kept a cash position. Anybody can buy some houses for a few years and end up broke. I did it and many of the people I used to know in the business are now gone. There are a few of them still doing investing and they are the ones who have been wise and conservative with their investments. So find some people who have been doing real estate investing. 

One of the ways to do that is to hang around foreclosure sales and see who is bidding. Usually those are some of your better investors.
Dave

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