One of the first questions you need to ask yourself, as an aspiring real estate investor, is what resources do you currently have at your disposal for real estate investing? This will give you a better idea of how to create a personalized plan or blueprint that helps you making the most of what you have. 

As a real estate investor, your best resources (other than money) are time, experience, education, and relationships. Let me break them down a little further:

1. Time

One question to ask yourself as you begin your investing journey is, how much available time do you have? Realistically you need time for finding the property, finding the financing, managing and renovating the property (if needed or desired), managing outside investors, etc. If time is not one of the resources you have, then partner with someone who has that resource more available!

2. Experience

Here’s the thing- the more experience you have, the more time and money you will save. With...

One of the 3 most valuable lessons I've learned in my career as a real estate investor came from my mentor - Robert Helms. He always says that we need to "build relationships for life."

He taught me that when you approach people with a "relationships for life" philosophy, you are not just trying to get that person to do one deal with you, but you want to build a strong long-lasting relationship with that person, keep working together, and hopefully also become friends.

I have taken that advice to heart, and I always seek to build strong relationships with everyone who can bring value to my life and my business.

So how do you get into these relationships? Here are three steps to follow to establish strong business relationships:

1) Reach Out To Those Who Are Already In Your Circle of Influence

You are probably already connected to tons of great people -- likely far more than you think.

First, pull out a pad of paper and a pen and start to think about potential team...

For better or for worse, your success in real estate will be determined by who you know.  Real Estate is a relationship business.  Who you know and who you are working with can make all the difference in what deals you get and how much money you have access to.  

You need relationships with great service providers (agents/brokers, lenders, property managers, CPAs, contractors, attorneys, etc.) and with great potential partners (deal and investment partners).  Without these right relationships you either:
(a) can’t get a good cash flowing property deal at all (especially in a competitive market), or
(b) you can’t run it well if/when you do acquire it.

A lot of people think that’s not fair.  It’s true, it’s not fair.  Fair or not, that’s the way it is.

There is something you can do about it though…

You absolutely can get yourself some of those right relationships!

So how do you do that?...