WHERE DO I START? WHERE DO I START?

Without question, hands down, the most common subject I get in my email box and over the phone. “Alex, I want to invest in real estate, WHERE DO I START?” And, at risk of sounding overly simplified, everyone must start where they are.

I don’t mean to sound like a monk on a hilltop giving some crazy riddle, but really, to know where one is going – to make a map – one MUST know where they are starting. And most people think they know where they are, but in reality – they don’t. If you do know where you are financially: know your credit score, your debt to income ratio, know exactly what your leverage is, what your retirement plan is and how much is in it and what it’s going to provide you when you retire, and all other financial factors that influence investing – you’re way ahead of the pack.

It’s just the same if you log onto Mapquest or Google maps or whatever you use, and know where you want to go, what is the FIRST THING you have to type in? Not your destination, but your origin.

It is the same with buying investment property. Most people are pretty clear where they want to go, but need a little help to find out what they need to get started. I did too. I knew I wanted a comfortable retirement, I knew I wanted to move out of the city a ways, I knew I wanted to start building my wealth, but I didn’t know what my leverage was now, in order to get there.

I too, had to look at where I was starting from. And if there are a thousand people reading this, there are one thousand different answers to that question. Having said that, the items in the first paragraph are among the first things you’ll want to know. Ideally you should sit down with a lender – preferably a broker, rather than a bank – and get pre-approved or pre-qualified. Then you will know what you can afford and when.