Real Estate Investing: Learn What the Pros Know

Filed under: News, Investing

There were plenty of people to blame for the housing bubble — our politicians, the big banks, average American homeowners, and of course, the investors and the speculators. Many acted like the market would keep climbing forever, ignoring the reality that was staring us in the face all along — fundamentals matter.

I mention this because I’m here to talk to you about real estate investing, and to do so without reminding you about the dangers of ignoring the fundamentals would be remiss of me.

For over six years now I’ve run an online real estate investing community called BiggerPockets.com where I’ve heard thousands of stories of success and failure. I’ve seen new investors who’ve been wildly successful and some very experienced ones make truly poor decisions. The main reasons that people fail is that they either don’t fully understand the fundamentals of what they are doing or they ignore them.

Browse through photos of millions of home listings or search foreclosure listings

Real estate investors are now responsible for purchasing a significant portion of homes on the U.S. market. This trend will increase as we continue to struggle as a nation.

What does that mean for you?

Real estate investing isn’t for everyone; there are plenty of other investment vehicles that people can and should explore. But there are few other strategies that will allow someone as much control over their financial future as real estate investing.

Many new, starry-eyed investors are seduced by the hope of getting rich quickly through real estate. And while some will, most won’t. Like anything else, sustained success in real estate investing comes from hard work.

With education, effort, time, planning and, hopefully, the support of your friends and family, you can become extremely successful in real estate, and my goal is to help you to do just that.

Each week, Bigger Pockets will bring AOL Real Estate readers insights from a wide range of experts. My hope is that these men and women who spend their days in the trenches of real estate will be able to give you the tools you need to become a successful real estate investor.

More From Bigger Pockets:

Also See:
College Town Real Estate Investments Score High Marks
Top 10 Towns for Working Toward Home Ownership
Will Baby Boomers Rock the Housing Market?

More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find homes for sale in your area.
Find foreclosures in your area.
Find rentals in your area.

Joshua Dorkin is the founder and CEO of BiggerPockets.com, the country’s premier real estate investing community. He has been investing in real estate for more than 10 years and built BiggerPockets to change the way real estate investors do business.