Question:
“I’d like to start investing in San Diego real estate. What do you think of those real estate investing seminars?”
Answer:
Most of them are a waste of your hard-earned money. Here’s why:
- Foreclosure seminars – we have VERY few foreclosures in San Diego.
- Tax lien seminars – ditto.
- Flipping seminars – too competitive in San Diego. If you can’t pay cash and get work done at wholesale prices, you won’t be able to compete with professional flippers.
- Buying property wholesale – forget about it. I won’t say it’s impossible, but the odds are so low it’s not worth trying
Does that mean I don’t believe in real estate investing? Not at all.
I’ve been a real estate investor since I bought my first home, a duplex, 32 years ago. But for San Diego, I believe in the old-fashioned way of real estate investing:
- Buy a property to rent out, perhaps one that needs cosmetic work.
- Fix it up, if needed.
- Rent it out and let the tenant effectively pay your mortgage. You may have some negative cashflow at first, but with time as rents increase, that will become positive.
- Either hold it or trade it up to a bigger property.
