Trying to get started.

HI
Its a great position to be in. Put the money away for a while and educate yourself. You can do this cheaply by buying books. Steve's 2 books are a great start. Margaret Lomas has a a range of books and i think the last one is about 20 questions you should ask before buying. Thats a great one. Peter Spann is another that comes to mind. This forum can be a very useful resource. There are seminars and courses you could do but they are very expensive and sometimes not what they are cracked up to be. 

The biggest rule for me when investing is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.

Near to transport, transport, transport. This is what i have found works better than anything for my style.

Good luck with your future.

Toni

Hi!

Ditto on the above, what an awesome situation to be in.

I was on my high horse yesterday about those 2nd tier sellers and posted the below which may help you as well.

I am the skeptic from hell having been tought a valuable lesson early in my investing life.  As a consequence, I decided to get market ready.  Some may call it procastination, but I made a conscious decision to "hold my horses" until I was confident in my level of basic understanding including the different strategies ie growth, yield, buy and hold, flip, developing etc etc. How to buy, ie company & trusts vs own name pros and cons, asset protection, tax planning, why was I investing, for how long, what was my exit plan.   Then I looked at us, where was our comfort zone ie reno and hold in a trust strust for asset protection.  We do not want to be employees until 65, so that meant we were looking for properties to replace our income (+CF)  offset by some money earners every now and then (value add/sliders/ granny flats etc) Sorted!  We were no longer interested in negative geared to offset against salaries.

I do not trust the 2nd tier seller that are very much around in the market at the moment – they are the ones with all the answers, glossy broshures and have got a deal for you – with guaranteed income (guaranteed income equates to inflatuated purchase price – beware). Oh, and some smooth talkers!    Liken it to handing over the controls to your wealth – herd 'em in, sell 'em a one size fits all ….oh dear, sounds like a financial planner of the property world.   Ask clients of STORM and iPlan and alike how they feel about handing over the controls to their livelihood.

I would rather be control of all my decisions ie choose the property, verify or research the area myself and have independent professionals.    If you want to learn the strategies on how to be in control ie the property investors that aren't trying to sell you property, but TEACH you instead how to make informed decisions – then check out Margaret Lomas (Destiny) and Dymphna Boholt (realestate success) – both will teach you how to use cashflow positive property to earn income.  Personally I get more from Dymphna's teaching, but I am big on asset protection and becoming a full time investor.

I subscribe to Michael Yardney, but having just read his latest book, he made a comment in there that was a left-fielder in my eyes and when I asked him what he meant, I was quickly referred on to Metropole – and if I was a client I would get the answer.  For me, I didn't what to pay $1,000 to become a client, and I do not need a buyer's agent because I have a particular talent for picking property. Don't get me wrong, Michael is very knowledgeable and is "up there" with investors and a great motivator, and his newsletters cut out the "noise and fluff".

Jan Somers is aother good read for strategy.   I cannot comment on RESULTS or Steve – while I have his books, I haven't read them (SORRY), but look , the man has an accounting background and is +CF strategy – like Margaret and Dymphna (and me ) so all's good.

Had to have my 2 cents worth, and it may have covered a number of topics, and take it as just another opinion to add to the rest.

In a nutshell, sit tight on the money, educate yourself and be in DIRECT control, NOBODY will look after your money as well as you do, and then only you are accountable.  Take advice from only those that have PROVEN results and are NOT selling their success, because they are getting richer on you.

I would love to read your follow-up post in 2 years time ….. telling a tale of real estate riches !!!!!