I know of some people who have become totally caught up in the euphoria of newfound knowledge and just couldn’t stop buying audio programs and attending very expensive seminars and bootcamps.  This seminar junkie must have spent at least $50,000 within a 12 month period and still hadn’t bought their first investment property.  They were just bouncing around from one great idea to the next.

I don’t know whether, in their case, it was because they were just caught up in the excitement of that environment, whether it was their way of convincing themselves they were active when they may have been too scared to get started, or they were honestly trying to find the best strategy for them.  I’m guessing it was a mix of these things.

Full article… Don't Become A Seminar Junkie: Experience Is The Best Teacher

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Rather than just give you my analysis spreadsheets, my objective with this article is to show you how to develop your own.  It is critical that you learn how to do so if you are to succeed at real estate and I want to encourage you to begin "playing" with Excel as soon as possible.  This will be far more beneficial to you than giving a cursory glance to someone else's work because it is easy enough to understand.  Consider this a case of teaching you how to fish and feeding you for a lifetime rather than giving you a fish and feeding you for a day.

You see, chances are my spreadsheets would not even be suitable for you because I am likely using a different investment methodology.  Even if we are both using a similar technique there could be small differences based on our respective financing or some other aspect that means it doesn't quite fit.

But more important than any of that is this:

I have found that the greatest benefit of developing your own analysis spreadsheet is that you become intimately familiar with the numbers.  By the time you've developed it and used it a few times you understand the numbers inside out and upside down and have a thorough understanding of what numbers are most important and what effect certain adjustments will have.

Full article… Financial Analysis of the Deal: A Real Estate Investor's Most Important Skill?

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