Getting Started In Real Estate Investing (The Right Way)
By Steve Cook

One question I get asked time and time again by people is about how to get started in real estate investing the right way.

And while it's very difficult to give a "pat" answer for everyone in every situation, my answer to this question is becoming clearer to me the more I get asked this question.

But before I go there let me share some insightful observations that I've made over the course of my real estate investing career of flipping property.

Measuring Success

The Lord has truly blessed me in my real estate investing endeavors. And I have had the opportunity to meet many other successful investors throughout the country.

And let me clarify for you what I consider to be a "successful" real estate investor.

Success is not measured in the amount of money you possess. It's measured based on the lifestyle you choose to live.

And in this paradigm there are those who are authentically successful and there are those who fake it. When I refer to "successful people", I’m talking about the authentic ones - the people who have “arrived.”

To be honest, I feel sorry for those that feel the need to fake success.

My successful friends all love to talk about their war stories - “What life used to be like.” After attentively listening to them, I have observed a common theme they all share - and most of them don't even realize it.

You may be inclined to think the common thread is education.

Wrong answer. While I can’t stress the importance of your education in real estate investing enough, that’s not it. You see, there are many educated investors, but few successful investors. Real estate education is relatively cheap and easy to find. In fact, there are some many who are so educated about "nuts and bolts" real estate investing techniques, they skip real estate investing altogether and decide to write courses and teach classes about the subject.

But it has been said that if you want to be successful, you need to learn from someone with real-world experience and someone more successful than yourself.

So what's the key?

The key to getting started in real estate investing and in being successful as a real estate investor is PLANNING .

Successful investors always have a game plan.

Educated real estate investing is knowing how to do deals. They may not know why they are doing deals or where they are going. They just aimlessly pursue opportunities.

Being "reactionary" like this, with no solid plan, is sort of like playing pinball. Some times you hit a "payday" spot and sometimes you don't. And while skill is helpful, you're still largely at the mercy of whatever is going on around you at that very moment - bouncing around here and there based on whatever the day happens to be tossing your way.

And like pinball, some people playing the game will win more often than others. But it the end, that little ball is still going to end up falling down the little hole. You will lose. You may get a higher score than others, but everyone loses pinball eventually.

My Two Aimless Years

I aimlessly invested for two years before I put a plan into place. That's right. I did 100 house flipping deals in my first two years and was basically starting over from scratch when I stopped.

After evaluating what I had done in my first two struggling years flipping houses wholesale, I came up with a specific game plan on how I was going to get to where I wanted to be.

What happened next? Things changed (for the better) almost instantly. My real estate investor business plan set me free. And when the day started throwing things at me, I could always go back to the plan and say, "Where does this fit in?" If it did, I could see exactly how and why I should be involved. If not, I cut the strings.

in creating my business plan I set guidelines for myself. I could clearly see, with the end result in mind, what steps I needed to take to get from point A to point B. And when a new "opportunity" would arise, I could much more easily make the decision to say "yes" or "no" -- and no longer be guilty of sacrificing what is best for what is merely good.

No, Not More Deals

Understand this: The success I've experienced since it's not because I have done more deals, but because I have done fewer, better deals.

Often the mindset of the investor is, “If I could only do more deals, I’d get ahead.”

Do you remember when you were an employee? Maybe you still are.

Did you ever think, “If only there were more hours in a day, then I could work another 10 hours and make more money.” Some of you reading this article may still be in this frame of mind.

The simple answer is planning. You have to take responsibility for your life, your finances, your spending, and your actions. There are important actions that successful investors can make plans for, such as:

1. Control your debt.
   
   You need to control your debt (i.e. pay it off).
   
   If you have debt, it will absolutely be your master. It will cause you to lose sleep at night, force you to hold on to your job, and keep you doing things that you don’t want to do.
   
   All of my successful friends stopped accumulating debt. They no longer buy cars and other consumer items, eat out or spent anything unless they have the cash to do it. Many of them even scaled back their lifestyles.
   
   I personally moved into an apartment, which is a common theme among many of my friends. They were willing to give up the “glamorous lifestyle” for a little while in order to live a lifestyle that would allow them to live out their dreams. They came up with a plan to pay off their debt and vowed not to accumulate any more.
   
2. Be crystal clear about what you want out of life.
   
   Not everyone really knows what he or she wants out of life. In fact, I dare say (in my experience at least) that most people don't have a clue.
   
   When I talk to others about their goals, most will say something along the lines of, “I want to make $250,000 per year” or “I want to have $5 million in the bank.” But when I ask them why, they can’t answer the question. They normally respond, “Because I want it.” Then that dream dies the moment they want something else.
   
   Often people think that making or having a lot of money will cure everything and give them the life that they want. This is a lie that society wants us to believe. If you don’t know what you are doing, money will make you miserable. However, money and a plan can set you free.
   
3. Be able to focus
   
   In order to be successful at anything, you need to become good at it.
   
   The mindset of a real estate investor is to be successful quickly. And the great Joe Vitale once said, "Success loves speed."
   
   No one sits down and makes up a plan to be financially free in 40 years! It’s more like two to three years, though some people will actually give five to ten years a shot, but that is rare.
   
   The good news is that two to three years can change your life if you have a plan and direction. Without these tools, these years could ruin your life.
   
   Investors who focus normally find a niche in real estate investing and go after it. They are not pursuing all different types of investing. (People who sell “the full toolbox” of courses may be angry at me for saying this because they will sell less if you believe that you only need one method of investing. But I just tell it how I see it.)
   
   Some of these concepts and steps seem so simple and, in actuality, they really are. However, most people who I talk to believe they are already doing this.
   
   But the likelihood is that their “plan” is really not a plan. They don’t know where they are going, how they are going to get there, what method they are going to use to get there, how long it is going to take to get there, or what to do along the way if they get lost.
   
   Usually they just run in circles until they get tired and then bow out along with many of the others who have bowed out of the real estate investing game over the years. Very few make it, because very few plan.
   
   Successful people don’t achieve their dreams by accident. You shouldn’t either. Read all of our articles on real estate investment.