What the Pros Say Are Some of the Fundamentals of Real Estate Investing

1. Real Estate Investing Basics Many Investors Forget
What the Pros Say Are Some of the Fundamentals of Real Estate Investing
There are really only a handful of building blocks that form the foundation for success in
real estate investing. That being said, young or old, grizzled trooper or newbie, it’s
surprising how many investors are unfamiliar with these essential building blocks. In
fact, even if you’re a seasoned veteran of the real estate battles you may be unfamiliar
with these key stepping stones to a successful business.
Although this is not a complete list, following are a couple of basics for building a
thriving real estate investment business.
• Optimizing the Process
• Private Lenders
• The Right Attitude
Optimizing the Process
If you’re an experienced real estate pro, or even if you’re new to the game, you probably
know some of the essential techniques for running a successful real estate investment
business. However, optimizing the process means accelerating and implementing what

2. you already know. Optimization is re-thinking, re-hearing and re-learning the same thing
over and over and over again. It’s not about the next new shinny thing. Truth is, you can
become darn near a genius at something by doing it over and over again.
For example, to become a master at karate your instructor doesn’t teach you a
thousand moves to use one time. They teach you one move to practice a thousand
times. The same principle applies here. When you optimize the process you’re simply
learning to do exactly the same thing thousands of times. Over and over and over.
Fix and Flip
Let’s say you’ve decided to focus your efforts on buying, rehabbing and flipping houses.
If that’s the case, there are a small number of steps you should take to insure and
maximize your success. There are not a thousand steps that change every time you flip
a house. There are a handful of steps that remain the same for a thousand flips.
Following is a quick overview of some of the major steps you would follow in flipping a
house. This is certainly not everything you need to know by any stretch, but it highlights
some of the important points.
1. Find a hot property
You should talk with people who can show you the techniques the pros use to
find hot properties to flip. They may be realtors or they may be professional real
estate coaches that will teach you, for a fee, the best ways to find hot properties.
For example, you should talk to wholesalers because they usually have a solid
supply of good houses to buy and flip. In addition, you need to decide on a
specific geographic area for establishing your business.
2. Get the Funding
You will need to have funding in place before you can move ahead very far with
flipping a house. If you don’t have funding, how are you going to buy the house?
You should have a system in place for funding your deals. Typical funding
resources include the following:
• Private lenders
• Banks
• Credit Unions and other Institutional Lenders
3. Work with a Reliable Rehab Contractor

3. You should establish a relationship with a trusted contractor. Remember, your
job is not to rehab the property yourself. Your time is too valuable to spend it
painting walls and tearing up flooring. Your job is to find hot deals, not fix the
plumbing. You should form a relationship with a contractor that is dependable
and trustworthy. The contractor you select will be a critical part of your business.
3. Work with a Trustworthy Title Company
It is essential you establish a relationship with a title company that is reliable and
trustworthy, just like your contractor. And like your contractor, your title company
will form an essential part of your business.
Private Lenders
You will need to learn how to establish relationships with private lenders. These are
people who are willing to fund your deals with their money, and they are a much better
alternative than banks and other institutional lenders for real estate investment deals.
Essentially, you create your own personal bank buy establishing professional
relationships with private lenders. They lend you the funds for your deal, and in return
you provide them with a higher interest rate on their funds, and sometimes even a piece
of the profits from the deal. This is not pie-in-the-sky; there really are wealthy people out
there who will lend money to you if your deal is solid.
You need to know how best to establish relationships with private lenders. Not only that,
but you also need to understand the law. There are strict laws in place for how and
when you can approach private lenders.
Once again, this is an instance when having a relationship with a professional real
estate investor who has the skills to provide mentoring or paid coaching can be a
career-saver.
The Right Attitude
Everybody wants a magic bullet. But life is not about magic bullets. It’s not about the
one thing that’s going to make you rich. It’s not about the one move in the stock market
that’s going to go up or down and make you rich or poor. It’s about the long-term
optimization, and the long-term execution of a business model that works. For example,
flipping houses works, if you know what you’re doing. The secret is all about learning
and executing, and learning and executing. Over and over. It’s not just about learning.
It’s easy to learn, but sometimes it’s scary to execute.
Live Up to Your Abilities

4. It is disappointing to see talented people who are living below their talent level, who are
not trying things and executing things and daring to go out and make things happen.
Most people have the smarts and inherent talents to become successful real estate
investors. You simply have to go out and make it happen – just go out and do it.
It’s Okay to Fail – Just Keep Trying
Sometimes that means failing. Trying some things and having them not work. But you
should get out there and make a lot of offers. You should have a mentor or professional
coach in place to help. That way, if you have a deal and want to get their feedback
before you proceed, you should be able to submit it to your coach for their feedback.
They should be able to look at that deal and tell you if it’s a good deal or not. And then
they should coach you through it.
The Bottom Line
You can be successful in real estate. It’s not brain surgery. But you must dedicate
yourself and do the homework so you understand the basics. Then you must optimize
what you’ve learned. You need to know what you want and you have to go make offers
and take action. The success you deserve is sure to follow.
About the Author
Josh Cantwell of www.StrategicRealEstateCoach.com recently released a video called “Banks are the
Enemy” which reveals how banks not only contributed to the financial meltdown of 2008, but also are
determined to stand in the way of property investors who want to change their lives by winning their
financial freedom. Watch the video here: http://strategicfreedomfunding.com/blog/ and find out what you
need to know about your alternatives to bank funding of real estate deals.