Changes in the real estate market create new niches and investment strategies. One must be able to work well with the changes as this is one area of investing that is constantly changing and updating. If you are new at real estate investing, you should begin working with a mentor and complete some transactions with a partner to reduce your financial and liability risk. A mentor will help you to avoid the common mistakes made by many real estate investors. Begin to educate yourself; do some research on the internet, attend seminars and join a real estate investing association.

What should you look for in a real estate partner or mentor?

You want to find someone that you are able to communicate with and relate well to; someone who agrees with you on important investing issues. As with any type of investment, the greater the risk, the greater the return; therefore, choose someone who takes the same degree of risk that you are comfortable with. Your first real estate partnership should be with someone who will also act as a mentor. Meet as many people in the real estate investing area as you can; network and learn from them. You will find that many experienced real estate investors are looking for partners; some are looking for people to train as partners.

Take your time and find a partner or mentor who is open and honest; one you can trust to steer you in the right direction. Finding real estate investors to work with is the easy part. Once you get started, you will find that there are a lot of people you need to know, including investors, brokers, property managers, rehab contractors, title companies, mortgage lenders, insurance providers and anyone who services real estate investors. A successful investor has all the necessary connections.

A partner or mentor with years of active experience will know how to structure each individual deal. He should be able to show you previous deals he has worked where he consistently showed profits. He should be able to show his experience using different exit strategies, for example, short term transactions, like wholesaling; and long term transactions, like land contracts and lease purchases. He will be one who knows where we stand in today’s real estate market and how to take advantage of the current market conditions.

What do you expect out of a real estate partnership?

Once you find your mentor, you discuss the real estate partnership. So, what are you looking for in the partnership? How much do you want to be involved in different areas, like financial investment, management responsibilities, and other requirements? Do you want to be a silent partner or a very active partner? Are you looking to invest in commercial or residential real estate? Do you want to hold real estate for cash value; buy, fix and sell; or is there another niche in today’s real estate market to go into?

You are no-doubt thinking about financial gain; you must make a good profit form the partnership, no matter what type of transactions you’re working or what your degree of involvement is. Does the anticipated profit match the degree of risk in the deal? How safe is the investment?

Be sure to discuss liability exposure and how your will protect your personal assets. How is the partnership to be set up? Some investors recommend that each real estate transaction be conducted using a different limited liability company.

A good mentor will make sure you understand all the important issues before you begin investing. He will explain how the partnership will be set up, what your financial investment will be and your degree of involvement. He will also cover the profit split and explain the financial risks and liability risk of each deal.

To the average person, real estate is a shaky market and one should think twice about investing in property now. The experienced real estate investor sees things in a much more positive light. There is a very high supply of bank-owned real estate, known as REO property, foreclosed homes, pre-foreclosed homes, motivated sellers and much more. The demand for these homes is relatively very low; therefore, real estate values are down and houses can be bought cheap. According to simple economics, the laws of supply and demand, this is a great time to begin investing in real estate.

Join a real estate investors association and meet real estate investors and property managers. See what everyone is doing and if it is working for them. Decide what you think will work for you and meet the people who have been successful doing it. If you do what the successful people are doing and begin working with a mentor, you will be on your way to financial success in real estate investing.