Real Estate Investing - The Job Escape

Real estate investing is pretty unusual in lots of ways. Real estate investing is creative. Real estate investing is risk-taking excitement. Real estate investing is diverse activity. Most of all, real estate investing is very profitable.

I'll never forget the words of one of my professors who said, "2% think, 8% think they think, and 90% would rather die than have a thought."

Boy, is that ever true!!!

According to surveys, 75% of the workforce hates what they do every day at their job. The survey was unneeded. Common sense and observation tells you that.

Why don't people love what they do every day?

They hate the commute. They hate the demanding routine. They hate being demeaned by their superiors. They hate some of the people around them. On and on it goes, but most of all, they hate their limited salary - payment per what the job pays rather than payment according to their personal contribution.

The locked-in salary cap is most despicable because it pays an employee what the job is worth and not what the person is worth. The color of your skin is not the problem. The fact you were born as a female is not the problem. Your lack of superlative educational degrees is not the problem. The problem is that a job pays what the job is worth and not what the employee is worth.

Entrepreneurism is not for everyone. It takes guts to "go out on your own." It takes guts to work on commission or for projected profit-per-job. It takes guts to live in the unknown. Some can't make the transition from salaried job to entrepreneur.

But think about it. The beauty of real estate investing is that you can do it on a shoestring budget, and you can do it part time until full-time is justified! Real estate investing is possible without cash reserves and without good credit. Real estate investing doesn't require a big bank account or an 800 FICO score on a credit report. Real estate investing can be initiated without ever walking into a bank to request a loan and without ever filling out a mortgage app.

When I started investing in real estate, I found it incredible that I could buy a $500,000 rental property with a $10 bill, and without a credit check or income verification! And that's exactly how I launched my real estate investing career 25 years ago. It's even easier today because credit is the easiest to obtain ever in history. Today, someone can be released from bankruptcy and even get 100% financing the next day! We are in an amazing period of opportunity for entering real estate investing.

True, you have to know what you're doing. But you can learn what to do. Know-how savvy in real estate investing can be learned like any other skill. And it doesn't require one of those complicated $3000 real estate investing seminars or costly $25,000 real estate investing coaches. Many of these "graduates" finish their education and don't know where to start! And real estate investing doesn't require full-time activity.

What it takes to transition from a job to a real estate investing career is "know-how savvy" and guts. After that, the sky's the limit.

You can investigate the possibility of "escaping the job" at Real estate investing is not in any list of high school electives. You can't get an accredited degree in real estate investing. You won't find a high school or college guidance counselor who recommends a career in real estate investing (if the guidance counselor understood real estate investing, he or she probably wouldn't be a guidance counselor!)

The public school system and educational curriculum in the U.S. is only a feeble attempt to prepare students to just "get a job." Unfortunately there is no class in "Making Money 101." You don't have the opportunity to take a class in "How to Become Financially Independent." No teacher ever taught a class in "How to Succeed When Everyone Else is Failing." I never learned anything about succeeding as an entrepreneur or becoming wealthy during my 10 years in the university classroom. I only became a multi-millionaire when I learned the skills of real estate investing, and I paid the price out-of-pocket and out-of-the-classroom for that education. I learned these skills in the ole University of Hard Knocks through trial-and-error.

Never disparage the cost of education. There ain't no free lunch. You've gotta get this know-how outside of a classroom, and learning how to make money is gonna cost you. But if you think the cost of education is expensive, you should calculate the cost of ignorance!

However, learning real estate investing doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. Yes, I know, the real estate investing TV infomercials and the real estate investing seminars held around the country charge big bucks for those 3-day seminars and week-long Boot Camps. But that's pocket change compared to the fees they want to collect from you later. Catch this fact: all the real estate investing infomercials and seminars target you as a candidate for "real estate investing coaching." That's where they charge you up to $25,000 and over $50,000 per year for "coaching." And often you are assigned to some kid "still wet behind the ears" to call you each week or month to hold your hand and whisper in your ear what common sense and a persistent drive should already tell you! I'm not exaggerating the real estate investing educational system, because I know it inside and out. I personally know many of the so-called "gurus." I've been close to it for 25 years. My opinion is that the fees charged are exorbitant because the promoters have found deep pockets in the marketplace.

When I started my real estate investing career 25 years ago, real estate investing TV infomercials were unknown and real estate investing seminars were extremely rare. Back then, Mark Haroldsen followed an emerging trend started by Al Lowry and Nick Nickerson by holding occasional real estate investing seminars across the country. Later Robert Allen expanded the industry. Robert Allen promoted real estate investing conventions in the major cities across the U.S. He found a market for costly real estate investing packages of information with cassette tapes and note books. TV infomercials, expensive seminars, and outlandish coaching fees followed in subsequent years. Would-be real estate investing aspirants today who want more than an inadequate salary from a job in Dullsville often conclude that they have to "pay through the nose" for real estate investing know-how.

However, through diligent searching, these wanna-bees often find that this education in real estate investing is more readily obtained from other sources than they previously imagined.

Real estate investing is probably one of the most easily learned skills never taught in school. Real estate investing is probably one of the most prolific careers available on Planet Earth. Because families now live in houses instead of caves, houses available for fix up are everywhere. And probably nothing contributes to upgrading the deplorable housing conditions across America comparable to real estate investing in fix up properties.

The entrepreneur-minded aspirant who discovers the real estate investing industry often catches a vision of life-beyond-a-job. Books and online courses offer an alternative to expensive seminars and coaching.

Some employees should hold on to their job because that's where they are best suited. But part-time real estate investing is an opportunity for anyone to check out personal congruity in the entrepreneurial world.

Phil Speer, Ph.D., started his real estate investing career 25 years ago. Without the availability of credit and using only a $10 bill, he purchased $1 million in properties in his first year, and had accumulated $10 million in properties by his fourth year. He was featured in a Wall St.Journal editorial as most successful investor in the Nothing Down Real Estate Movement, and was honored with a Caribbean cruise as top investor of the year. In his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, he has been a businessman and Human Resources Consultant for 30 years. He is an author, speaker and seminar director. To learn how to profit in real estate investing, even without cash or credit, read his report at at http://www.CashinHouses.com/. Subscription is free to his Fix-up Ezine. He and other contributing authors provide free articles and resources on real estate investing at his online "Academy of Advanced Real Estate Investing Techniques" - http://www.AAREIT.com.