I live in the Washington DC Metropolian Area. I am 23 and hold a full
time job as a Financial Analyst. I want to get into Real Estate
Investing. I would like to keep my current job for now and possibly
move to Real Estate Investing full time in the future.

Where do I begin? Should I take classes, read books about Real Estate
Investing or attend seminars?

Please provide your feedback.

Thank you

Yulia

Dear Yulka, 

Several books and sites could help you. First of all, CRE Online
<http://www.creonline.com/articles/index.html> have a nice bunch of
articles, that explain basic issues. This could be a good starting
point, being a free-of-charge resource.

A collection of other online resources could be found at the Google
Directory: <http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Investing/Real_Estate/Resources/>

A collection of recommended books for beginners in real estate
inverstments could be found at Drexel University College of Science
and Technology site:
<http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/shelfer/public_html/busrefpapers/realest.html>

Specifically, they mention 

Brueggeman, William B., et al. Real Estate Finance and Investments.
9th ed. 1992. - this book is recommended by almost any serious real
estate investor, or people who are interested in this. See latest
(1996) at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0256152543/102-4452221-3324931

Clauretie, Terrence M. and Webb, James R. The Theory and Practice of
Real Estate Finance. 1993.

McLean, A. Investing in Real estate might also propose a good start. 

Other books in this list could be also helpful. 

More recent books include: 

Commercial Real Estate Analysis and Investments by David M. Geltner,
Norman G. Miller

The fresh Real Estate Loopholes: Secrets of Successful Real Estate
Investing
by Diane Kennedy, Garrett Sutton, Robert T. Kiyosaki 

And The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss,
Martin J. Stone

Further possible sources
========================
Careers in real estate - <http://fisher.osu.edu/fin/real.htm> - you
might be a bit above this level, but there are good links and
bibliography.

Korpacz Real Estate Investor Survey
<http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/47D19DC7-A772-49A7-9346-A7268A637528/0/Korpacz2001Q3.pdf>
in PDF format


Search Strategy
===============
First, I called a friend who is in the field exactly, to hear what
he'll recommend :-)
Online, I saw that a "regular" search draws much commercial junk, as
you said yourself - people who try to sell you something whose quality
is uninsured. When I searched in listings from academic institutions
(See: ://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=%22real+estate+investor%22+dc+site%3Aedu+%22how+to%22)
I got much better results.

I hope this answers your question. If you need any further
clarification on this answer, please let me know before you rate/tip
it.

---

Clarification of Answer by politicalguru-ga on 25 Sep 2003 08:37 PDT

Yulka - 

While going through my spell checker, a substential part of the answer
was somehow erased. I apologise. Basically, I encouraged you to take
real estate classes in local universities and colleges - as these are
available in your area. The level of commercial courses varies and
sometimes not worth the effort.

However, I stated that these books might be a great help.

Reading a book might be useful, but I would recommend that you look
into REITs as a start. Real Estate Investment Trusts are similar to
mutual funds (but are much less liquid) and participating in one will
acquaint you with the terminology and major players as well as provide
an idea of the sector in which you might be interested in investing in
the future (commercial, residential, property size, etc.). Please note
that a REIT, just like any real estate venture, might require tying up
a significant investment over long periods of time.

yv204-ga,

Thank you for your comment. 

Do you have any more specific suggestions about the books that I
should read? I read a few books and it seems like there are a lot of
books out there that want to "sell" you their services such us classes
or seminars. There are a lot of overly optimistic (in my opinion)
books, that don't provide any concrete evidence nor do they teach you
a step by step process. Based on you knowledge of the subject, which
books should I read. I feel overwhelmed with all the information
available on the subject.

I need to have a more concrete plan on where to begin.

Thanks!