It was the moment that gave me clarity as ironic as it was. Everything I was afraid of from losing money to buying at the top and whatever in between, it all slowly washed away.

“Any Idiot Can Make Money in Real Estate”

That is what this old school New York guy said after telling me about the immense wealth he built in real estate over the years while making it very clear he was a complete blockhead.

The thing is, he wasn’t just being humble. You could tell he was a anything from analytical or discipline for that matter. He was, well kind of a blockhead.

Stop Overthinking It

I attend and even host several real estate meetups each month. There is always a ton on knowledge in the room and a bunch of questions to keep one on top of their game.

However, one of the biggest things I see in real estate investing on a whole is people overthinking it.

Here’s the thing – real estate investing has some fundamental rules and practices you should learn. After that there isn’t too much to learn.

At that point it becomes more about knowing the market you are investing in and the demographics and laws that govern it.

There is no masters degree or PHD in Real Estate Investing. You learn the fundamental mechanics of it and then take that knowledge to invest.

No deal is identical. No market is identical. No investor is the same.

Variables will always exist in anything you invest in, but if you have the fundamental mechanics down pat then your foundation for decision making is solid.

One of the biggest fundamentals is knowing how to correctly analyze a property. This holds true whether you are wholesaling, flipping or doing buy and hold rentals.

Correctly analyzing properties involves a few things, one of which is using a property calculator to run the numbers and see if it financially makes sense. You can use the scaredycatguide property calculator for analyzing rental properties.

For flips it’s about learning the math between the after repair value (ARV), your purchase price and rehab costs. Gotta make sure there is so meat on the bone as they say.

I have done flips and wholesales, but my wheelhouse is buy and hold rentals. If you want a step by step guide on analyzing rental properties check out the ScaredyCatGuide Investing Videos.