Finding Properties - How to
Ok, I have convinced you to invest in Real Estate – now what do you do?
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION – start with your favorite location and work in concentric circles or squares.
Mario Terriama
Back in the early days of CBRE – Coldwell Banker – the head of Apartment investments was a legendary gentleman named Mario Terriama. He was a west coast apartment investor/broker before there was any corporate real estate companies. His plan – and you had to stick with it if you were going to be a CB broker, was to pick a six block area and catalog each building/ownership/type of units/ownership. He believed in the good ‘ol shoe leather approach – he would knock on doors and ask. His claim was that if a beginning broker did this, they would see their first listing in six weeks, first closing in six months, and after a year be a successful broker. If the aspiring apartment broker could not manage this task, he had no chance. As the broker cataloged and became the expert for his core area, he could then (and only then) branch out and pick another core area, but not until he knew the primary catalog cold first.
Like Mario, I was the Marketing Director for Investments and taught new offices IRR and things like that. As we opened offices nationwide for CB, Mario amassed a coterie apartment brokers who became the largest and most successful Apartment group in the US. We all learned the importance of focus and becoming an expert in a restricted area. Trying to run all over and be everything to everyone, is not a recipe for success in Real Estate. Try this, you will be shocked how much you learn.
BECOME THE EXPERT – In every deal I have invested in and sold, I was the expert. No one in the transaction new more about the property than I.
Work with an experienced Broker.
Talk to everyone
Listen to everyone
Educate yourself
Surround yourself with smart/experienced people
Find a mentor –
CAREIA Chicago area real estate investors association of the National real estate investors association
Read everything online you can find
Spend a lot of time looking – you will probably look at 100 properties before buying one.