What's the Best Way to Get Started?

What's the Best Way to Get Started?
by Barry Grimes

That’s probably one of the most common questions asked by people wanting to begin real estate investing. Another common question is, “How do I find a mentor to work with?” Of course there is no one perfect answer for everyone. It depends on a number of factors including; money available, goals and current skill level. But, for my money the answer to both questions is bird dogging or as I call it Real Estate Jobbing.

A Real Estate Jobber is a person who finds qualified leads for professional Investors, through a variety of sources using a systematic process.

Why Real Estate Jobbing?
You can start in your spare time.

There is absolutely zero financial risk.

There is practically no start up costs.

You don’t need money or credit.

You can gain hands on experience without risk.

You can find out if real estate investing is really for you, before spending hundreds or thousands on books, courses and other learning aids.
Your job is simply to supply quality leads and it’s the Investor’s job to handle the rest of the process.

You Earn While You Learn

For each lead that an Investor is able to close on, you will be paid a referral fee. There are several types of referral fee arrangements that can be made including:
A flat rate.

A percent of the purchase price rate.

A net profit rate.

Rates that combine more than one method.
Build Mentor Relationships

There is no doubt that mentoring is the most efficient way to learn, but it can be difficult to find a mentor to work with. Do you really think seasoned Investors have time to mentor everyone that asks? Separate yourself, and bring something of value to the table. By supplying good, quality and qualified leads you are saving your Investors time and helping them to make money. Now an Investor will be more willing to help.

Start in Your Spare Time

You can easily start out as a Jobber in your spare time. You don’t have to quit your job; in fact I would not recommend that. You work from home, and you may be able to do much of the lead finding research on-line. Anyone can become a Jobber. There are no special qualifications, education requirements or specialized experience required. Your age, gender, race, background, geography or current occupation does not matter.

The skills you develop will carry over. As you gain experience you will work closer and closer with your Investors, and learn the business first hand. When you are ready to take the next step, you will know how to find profitable leads. As an Investor you must be able to find motivated sellers, that’s one thing that will never change.

What Makes a Successful Jobber?

You must know your Investor’s needs. Know what types of properties, what price ranges and what locations they are looking for, and prefer to deal with. The Investor is your customer, and you must give him or her what they want. The successful Jobber is like a real estate detective. The client is the Investor, the case is to find motivated sellers, the reward is the referral fee and leads represent clues. A good detective will investigate as many clues as necessary to solve the case. Likewise a good Jobber will generate and investigate as many leads as necessary to find the truly motivated sellers. You must provide complete information to your investors. It takes much more than an address and phone number for an Investor to make a decision. The Jobber goes the extra mile and uses the public records and other sources to provide as much information as possible for Investors.

You must be (or learn to be) organized. Jobbers use a systematic approach for generating and qualifying leads. If you are disorganized it will be very difficult to stay on top of your business. Anyone can learn to be organized. It all boils down to providing good, quality information, which saves the Investor time and helps them to make money, that’s the goal of a Real Estate Jobber. If you achieve this goal, then your Investors will be more than happy to help you learn the business, and pay you very well for your efforts.

It’s Not Easy

Real Estate Jobbing is a great, risk free way to start your Real Estate Investing career. You earn money while learning the business first hand. But, it’s not an easy get rich quick program. You will have to put forth some effort to be successful. You will need to generate hundreds of leads, which takes some time and commitment. You will need to look up the property information for each lead and present the leads regularly to your Investors. You must be able to motivate yourself to keep finding leads, even when it seems like none of them are panning out.

Real Estate Investing is not for everyone. Jobbing is an inexpensive way to find out if it’s for you, before you spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on courses, books and other materials. Find out what’s involved first hand, experience the challenges as well as the rewards. You get paid to find motivated sellers while saving Real Estate Investors time and money, all while learning the business; it sure sounds like a win-win situation to me.