But where to do you start? One of the questions asked time and time again on the forms is “What books do I read when staring out in REI?” Here at Part-Time REI we believe in educating yourself, and reading up on the subject matter is a great place to start. So we took our coaches top picks along with some of the top real estate investing books lists out there and comprised a list of 10 great books to read when investing in real estate. Spoiler alert, you probably won’t find many of these on the New York Times Best Seller’s List…or will you?

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert T. Kiyosaki

2.The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss

3. The Book on Flipping Houses by J. Scott

4. The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller

5. Landlording on Autopilot  by Mike Butler

6.The ABCs of Real Estate Investing: The Secrets of Finding Hidden Profits Most Investors Miss by Ken McElroy

7. The Richest Man in Babylon by by George S. Clason

8. Fixing and Flipping Real Estate: Strategies for the Post-Boom Era  by Marty Boardman

9. Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich – And Why Most Don’t by Donald J. Trump, Robert T. Kiyosaki

10. FLIP: How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for Profit by Rick Villani  and Clay Davis

We hope this list helps you if you are just starting out or if you are a seasoned veteran of flipping houses, maybe some of these books will help you brush up on your flipping skills. Either way we would love to hear your feed back. Also be sure to check out our Flipping Houses University for a plethora of tips and advice on staring out in REI.

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/

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Whether you are just getting started in investing in real estate or you are a seasoned veteran, one of the basic truths to any successful businesses is knowing how to market. It would be an understatement to say that marketing is one of the most essential tools in a real estate investor’s business plan. Let’s be honest, can you really be successful if no one knows who you are? So keeping with Part-Time REI’s goal to help educate and help REI’s one of the questions we have come across a lot is “How do I market my business?” No matter what stage you’re at in your business, you must find a way to successfully market yourself in order to gain new clients and keep your name out there in the investing market.

So first question you are probably asking yourself…how do you go about building a successful marketing campaign? This question is a broad one, and there are many answers from many different sources out there. Of course the answer will differ from investor to investor. There are a few points that will help you get a basic marketing plan together though.

1. Figure out your Budget

You can’t move forward with a marketing plan until you know how much you can afford to spend. Create an outline of a loose budget first so that you can fill in any blanks later. It doesn’t have to be exact but the point is to give you an idea of how much those Facebook ads might cost.

2. Who are you trying to Reach?

Very important question for yourself here. Who do you want to be your clients? Anyone? Everyone? Just those making over 100K a year? If it is the ladder you can be sure that your black and white paper flyers are not reaching your target market. Think about the type of client you’d most like to work with, and who would most benefit from your services and want to work with someone like you. Then figure out how to single out those people and market to them directly.

3. Find your Niche

What are you branding yourself as?Maybe you focus on first time home owners or like to rehab hundred-year-old homes. Whatever specific aspect of investing you’re best at and love doing the most can be your niche. This can be as general or as broad as you want, just figure it out and focus on that. Organic word-of-mouth marketing no doubt is the best marketing that money can’t buy!

4. Make Goals

Develop some reasonable, attainable, specific marketing goals for your business. Try to make sure they are definable, and measurable. Plan out how you will effectively reach these goals, within the constraints of your budget, giving the most time, resources and money to those goals that are most time sensitive.

5. Stay Flexible

Be sure to review your plan often and revise as necessary. Your marketing plan should continue to evolve along with your business. Your goals can change, so adapt to the changing business landscape. Some parts of the plan also will work better than others, so review and revise to accommodate what you learn as you go.

Expect a learning curve as you work out what works and what needs revision. Some of the things you try at first will fail. However, with some trial and error and by educating yourself, you will find a marketing strategy that meets your needs and takes your business to the next level.

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/

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The modern economy has a lot of individuals curious about making money from real estate. The sad truth is that most people have no clue about where to get started. If you have  been wondering what you can do to invest in the real estate market the right way, you should know a couple of things first.

You must develop a good feel for local property values. Knowing your market is one of the key lessons that will prepare you for investing in real estate. The cost of mortgages and rent in the neighborhood is a better indicator than financial statements when providing a picture of the house value. If you view the property from a basic level, you can better make the right decision.

Learn from like-minded people. If you are reading this then you are definitely looking in the right place. Lots of people want to get involved in real estate investments. There are many groups focusing solely on real estate investing. Or you can also find many online as well. Join these groups and learn all that you can. Invest as much time in learning to achieve that investor mindset.

The national real estate industry is expected to continue growing in 2014 but at a slightly slower rate than 2013. More importantly, major investors will shift out of tier one markets into tier two markets due to the high cost of real estate in the “gateway” cities. Gateway cities are cities offering the most international airplane flights and international business. Cities like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. But there are other important cities now offering a better return on capital. These include Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orange County, Portland, San Jose, Seattle, and Minneapolis. These are the types of cities that institutional investors will be investing in during 2014.

Don’t Make Excuses

You are not too old and reality is you are never going to be any younger than you are right now. Start looking past your self-imposed age restrictions and start using your age to your benefit. Believe me – a lot of young professionals would LOVE to appear wiser and be taken more seriously than they are. Having lived it myself for the past decade, I know that age is an asset. It’s not always easy for young people to be taken seriously is the business world.

If you think the market is over-saturated, think again. All signs point to go. Succeeding in any business is about finding the right solutions to the right  problems. People will always live in houses and people will always be buying houses. Find your niche and become their problem solver.

If you think the economy is not strong enough, keep reading. Did you know that more than half of all Fortune 500 companies were started in the midst of a major recession or a down market? It doesn’t matter where the economy is headed, you just need to figure out how your solutions will fit into the grand scheme of things. We see the current market as one of the greatest financial opportunities you may ever see in your life.  Anyone who invested in real estate between 2009 – 2012 will probably tell you the same thing!

Don’t allow yourself to be marginalized by self doubt. It’s never too late to get started, and if you’re asking yourself when the time will be right for you, think about what was said in this article. The only really important question is, when will you get started?

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/

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 Investing in Real Estate Gives You Leverage

Once you get past the notorious “first flip”  money will be easier to come by. This is one of the best things about investing in real estate; you no longer have banks on your hit list. When you get a few flips under your wings, banks will be more open to lending to you as an established investor. With your properties as leverage, you can easily loan money from the bank for both personal and non-personal use.

Additional Tax Reduction Strategy

We have talked about it before. HUGE tax advantages to investing in real estate. Having one real estate property and even more makes it  easier for you to reduce your taxes. This is due to the fact that you can use personal expenses and convert them into expenses that you can deduct to the overall revenue of your property. More so, you will be able to write off some of the expenses as daily maintenance and checking in on your property, or expenses of which you required to check on the property managers or contractors you have hired.

Save For The Future

Americans are the worst savers in the world.  Unfortunately in this day and age pension plans and 401k plans are not enough money for you and your family to live comfortably after you retire. Investing in real estate can be the alternate to a lacking retirement plan and those risky stock market games.

Investing in real estate properties right now helps you save money for the future because as long as you manage it right, your property will be profitable. In fact, your future self will definitely be thanking you right now if you decided to invest in a couple of real estate properties.

Now there are plenty of entrepreneurs that have failed at the hands of flipping houses. However, much of them did so because they invested in real estate and seemed to have forgotten to make it more of a hands-on effort of making money. While real estate investment is a passive-income, this does not mean that you should be passive as well when handling it. You have to educate yourself and make sure that you are making the right decisions.

In the process of accumulating wealth, investing in real estate is definitely a huge part of that formula. Although we are not suggesting that you will become rich overnight or become rich beyond your wildest dreams, you will have enough money to make you happy, worry-free and be financially independent. Investing in real estate will help you achieve those life goals with out taking away any of that precious time from your family or time from doing the things you love.

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/

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The first thing you have to realize is you will have to think about things differently. Think about investing differently. Think about saving differently. Think about earning an income differently.

A strong, successful investor in real estate realizes that a paradigm shift happens in your mind. A person goes from ‘How do I earn money? to ‘How can I save money’? The beauty in this mindset is one paramount realization. There are always limits to how much you can save; but there is no limit to how much you can earn. It is the biggest shift in thinking you will have to make.

A good example of this is Robert T. Kiyosaki author of Rich Dad; Poor Dad and his cash flow quadrant. Your goal as an investor is to be in the bottom right hand quadrant where your money works for you. The ultimate goal for anyone flipping houses or investing in real estate is for investing to be their sole source of income.

Saving money to get rich or to achieve a comfortable retirement is not a good formula. Think about it. You are sacrificing the convented lifestyle right now in your life. Do you want to live a modest lifestyle and settle for a modest retirement? Of course not. And keep in mind that Social Security is anything but secure right now.

Reward comes with risk. The more secure and safer you are with just saving your money the less chance you will actually achieve financial security. Don’t say “I can’t do this.” or “I don’t know how.” Think “How CAN I do this.” If you think you are going to fail then unfortunately you probably will.

So you are probably wondering how to get there. How to gain that confidence to get into that investor mindset. First and foremost educate yourself. Education plus action is the key. Part-Time REI has a Flipping University to help you get started. Our team is also big promoters of mentoring. We believe it is the secret to success. Get connected with the right people.

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/

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