All on the Table

Yesterday I talked about how I came to my decision to invest in real estate.

Today I suppose it only makes sense to lay bare what I feel are my essential qualifications to be teaching you, as well as myself, how to build a business in real estate investment.

My employment history is varied and I've never enjoyed having a traditional job and never really liked any of those particular jobs any longer than it took me to master the skills necessary to perform them with aplomb.  The ones I've held on to and tolerated the longest involved a great deal of freedom of action, self scheduling, and no direct day-to-day supervision in the traditional sense.  I think this sets me up to be pretty happy with real estate as a choice moving forward.

In no particular order (by importance, chronologically, or otherwise) I have delivered pizzas, done everything you can at a call center (inbound customer service, inbound and outbound sales, trained, managed, started a program), sold insurance at various agencies, worked in various sales positions both retail and in-home, freelance marketed, and performed insurance inspections for underwriting.  It is a storied employment history that many hiring managers will immediately look at see "someone who can't commit" and "a hiring risk" due to my short history with so many employers.  A great number of entrepreneurs and self-starters start out in just the same place, so I'm not afraid of it.  I embrace my broad history and skill set for what they are:  useful experience for both living and working.

I certainly do not want to scare off anyone who comes here reading this and thinks to themselves "I don't have half of those skills.  I can't possibly do all of this alone."  I shall address that sort of thinking in three parts:

Firstly; This is nonsense.  You can always learn any skill that you need to, at least to a minimal competency.  Especially if you're the type of person that wants to pick up real estate investment as a hobby, side business, or even as a full-on career.  The internet is rife with tools on how to learn any given skill.  It's exploded with tutorials over the past couple years especially.  Search whatever you need to do in YouTube and you'll find a large pile of how-tos at your fingertips.

Secondly; If you truly can or will not learn something to the point that you are comfortable doing it yourself you can always hire someone else to do it.  Honestly your goal should probably be to hire on people to take over most of these roles for you eventually, anyway.  In the current economy of 3rd quarter 2012 a lot of people out there are hungry for supplemental income.  Put a post on Craigslist in any metro area in the United States and you'll be bombarded by applications and resumés.  The right people will work with you and take pay when it comes in, or can be payed a small amount per job.  Whichever seems to fit your scenario the best is what you should do.  There are no real rules, here.  This is a theme you will find in real estate investing.

Thirdly and similar to the second point; Find others to work with and partner.  There are already real estate investors working near you and doing so successfully.  Seek them out and work with them.  If you're in Pittsburgh you can work with me.  I might have connections in other markets by the time you're reading this, too.  Ask!  The point is that, like so many other things in life, you don't have to go it alone.  Find someone else that's just as committed (or more so) than you are, and strike out to learn the ins and outs together.

Real estate and I together has always been a forgone conclusion to me.  My grandparents owned a few rental properties and my mother managed them for them for a while.  It's kind of in my blood.  This certainly helps, but if you've come to the decision to invest in it it won't matter if you were the same.

So.  My experience.  I've rambled a little, and as I become a more proficient blogger that will probably stop.  Be patient with me as I find my footing on how to chop up ideas and stay laser-focused on topic...

The focus of everything I've done before is that much of it is people centered.  I worked with customers.  My job has always been one flavor or another of "get X person to buy Y thing".  Real estate investment is about marketing.  I will have to market for buyers.  I will have to market for sellers.  I will even have to find people to work for me.  Finding effective ways to communicate with other people that land somewhere on the continuum of real property ownership, building relationships with mutual trust, and executing mutually beneficial arrangements is all there is to it.  Sure that's the top-down high level view of it all, but we'll get to the details.

Aside from the nebulous "I know how to sell" and "I know how to talk to people" here are a few particular current jobs that I think will be very useful:

I am currently part of Steel City Investments.  As I mentioned yesterday, I met up with a friend from high school at the 3 day seminar and he was in a much more solid financial position than I am, so he was able to hit the ground running on his own organization.  I work for Steel City because it gives me very useful experience, builds a working relationship, and allows me to make some money while getting my feet wet.  When our leads come in I am the first point of contact for any potential sellers.  I talk to them, find out their situation, and see if we might be helpful to them in their current situation.  More than half of them are not someone that we can help directly.

I also do home inspections right now.  I'm not a full licensed inspector.  I just do simple floorplans and photographs of any problems with properties.  This has given me an eye for housing-related problems.  It's all very easy to learn, but I can spot a problem with a roof or a foundation almost by instinct at this point.  I know what's normal in the Pittsburgh area for homes, inside and out.  This is useful for any number of reasons in knowing what might need repaired come that portion of things.

I am comfortable talking to people.  My sales background in insurance had me talk to people about death, what happens to their families when horrible tragedy strikes.  I've been a travel agent.  I have gotten people through ruined vacations because of my business's fault as well as because of hurricanes and everything in between.  I am not afraid to ask them questions about the condition of their home, their life, and money.  A lack of fear from rejection or similar conversations serves me well in business actions.

My training and management experience gives me the flip side of the coin of many social interactions.  I know how to present ideas in a favorable manner, I know how to direct different personality types, and I can break down complicated ideas if necessary.

Finally each of these jobs has one central skill at its core:  Communication.  I am comfortable speaking to someone in person, on the phone, writing email, or even typing things out on paper.  Communicating with other people is essential to marketing, sales, and just plain life.

All of this wrapped up together (and much more, of course) makes me who I am.
It is why I feel I'm the perfect candidate to teach you and myself how to do all of this.