Hey im looking to get into real estate, once I finish college I will have a nice chunk of money left over, and instead being stupid and blowing it on a nice car, I want to invest it into real estate, anybody know any good sites, books or anything else that was usefull to them?

 

PM me I can give you some ideas.

Sam

 

This guy seems to have a good reputation...

http://www.johntreed.com/

 

Good plan to start right out of college. I didn't start until about 5 years ago.

It would help if you gave more details as to what kind of real estate you were looking into, what your area is like, etc.... what your game plan is. You can buy houses that need work and rehab them to keep or to sell. Some people buy more expensive houses and stretch the loans for some anticipated appreciation (that is more risky but obviously rewarding if you do it in the right market). Some people just buy houses and rent them mostly for the cash flow (like me).

I have 18 single family houses. Half of mine are "in the city" but not in horrible parts of town and half are in good parts of the city.... I rent 10 of them to Section 8 (Assisted Housing) which some people love and others hate. My houses have gone up in value a bunch just due to all of the new real estate investors and the interest rates, which is awesome because I never counted on that.

There is a lot of competition out there. Don't plan to be an instant millionaire like many of those lameass books claim. If you do it right it is very good. Once my 18 houses are paid off the net income is about $80k/yr.

Goodluck.

 

IMO, real estate is a bubble ready to pop. not nationally, but in many locations. greenspan even said it last week.

everyone and their dog is falling over each other to buy real estate now. remember, buy low sell high. you can't do that now.

IMO, stocks are the thing to be in as the "herd" doesn't favor it as much. It is NEVER NEVER a good idea to invest in something AFTER the herd.

Also, all this "interest only loan" stuff stinks of buying on margin. Long term, real estate appreciation is like 4%, less than the 6% you pay. Count on future short-medium term being below that after an insane runup in the past 3 years. Stocks return 11%.

You have all these idiots saying "god only makes so much land". OK, but fortunes have been made and lost in real estate.

Rents are not going up with real estate prices. In FL, you cannot rent a place out and make money. A rental rate in FL is about 53% the price of a mortgage...3 years ago it was 105%. Of course, 99% of the market has no financial brain at all.

It would have been very wise to get into real estate 3 years ago, but it is not today. Don't think a bubble can happen? Ask the merry old people of London!

 

You may be better off blowing your money on the car rather than losing your shirt on a piece of real estate you buy now... j/k

Seriously many areas of the country are about to change, prices will stagnate or temporarily dip. If you are looking to get in and flip like most of these folks, now is not the time. I would put my money in the stock market (not high risk stocks) and let this whole thing ride out, in 2 years it may be a new ballgame...

If you are looking to rent a property and hold it for a while, you will still make out in the long run, but it will take time.

 

[QUOTE=steven975,May 26 2005, 01:12 PM] IMO, real estate is a bubble ready to pop.

 

a little comic relief

 

^^^^

My family bought a new house about 2 years ago, and the prices have gone up a bit since then. Luckily, this is our last house for a good while, so if it does burst, we should be OK. Plus I don't think the market where we are would be affected by a burst like other places anyway... we got over 3000 sq ft brand new for a little over 200K.

Edit for a horrendous grammar mistake.

 

yea, huntville, AL is pretty safe. you don't have half the population (with $0 in their bank account I may add) falling over each other to buy houses and condos.

it is places like FL, CA, and NYC that will be hurt the most.