There are many sources of knowledge that made me interested in earning passive income from rental property. Some of these are:
- Books
I recall reading Rich Dad Poor Dad, Cashflow Quadrant, Retire Rich Retire Young as some of the few books I read in the past that influenced me to go into the direction of earning from rental property. - Seminars & Conferences
When I first arrived in the US in 2004, in San Diego there was this local company named The Learning Annex. You would find their list of seminars in a booklet in newspaper stands. Aside from attending several about real estate, they also advertised larger events where I attended the Real Estate Expo where the main speaker at the event was Robert Kiyosaki. - Friends and Personal Acquaintances
Being a business owner myself, I have rented office spaces in the past. And you get know the landlords personally, and sometimes share stories and learn more about how they got started.
But even with all of these sources of information, many were inspirational and motivational, a lot were general guides. To learn more of the details how to get started was not that easy. There are courses that are sometimes expensive, and also spend a lot of time learning but a lot of learning courses sometimes have a lot of fluff information. Or some are given by people that do not really know the ins-and-outs and are just repurposing the training from another training where the trainers are just trying to make a profit from offering training courses even if they themselves are not true experts in the field.
Sometimes it is just way easier if you just knew the people that are in the real estate field and do this for a living and hopefully you can ask any kind of question. This is where I find networking groups very useful. It may be hard to find the best groups but as you continue to go through them, you'll eventually find the people that would be ideal to talk to that have no intent in selling an expensive service. Here are my favorite ways to find local real estate professionals to network with and ask questions on the specifics on how to get started.
Local Meetup Groups on Meetup.com
Local meetup groups on Meetup.com can also be a hit or miss. Some could be just networking among people in the industry and is not focused on teaching each other, and it is just a chance to unwind and have a drink with industry friends. Some could be driven by one company just trying to sell you a product or service. And others could be a helping group or a teaching and learning group. Just attend a few, get a good feeling for them and decide from there if you think the groups are useful or not.
Social Media Groups
Many social media groups are online only, but if the group's name has your town, neighborhood or city in the name, most likely they also meetup from time to time. Facebook Groups is one place to search. And another is on the Nextdoor app. The beauty of the Nextdoor app is it is a social media network where the only people you interact with are the people in your community.
Business Network International (BNI)
The BNI network is not a group of real estate people. It is a group of businesses. Sometimes the members are business owners, or sometimes the member is an employee of a business, often in a sales related position. BNI will have several chapters in every city. And every chapter, there will only be one type of product/service represented in the group. So each chapter will only have one real estate broker, one mortgage agent, one handyman/home repair, one plumber, one escrow company, etc. But BNI is not only about real estate it is any business. When I was in BNI, I was the chapter's SEO consultant, and was also offering web design and development. The objective of BNI is to pass each other referrals for their businesses. And the more types of services represented by the chapter, the more it becomes a one-stop shop for anything you need. And sometimes, the primary customer for these services are the members themselves. As a member of the group, I met my primary contacts for these services/products
- Residential Real Estate
- Commercial Real Estate
- Mortgage
- Escrow
- Flood and Fire Home Restoration
- Plumbing
- Home Repair Services
- Title Insurance
- Home Cleaners
- Home Inspection
- Junk Removal
- Gardener/Landscaper
- Home Appraiser
- Home Insurance
- Real Estate Lawyer
What I like about BNI, is it is a helping group. You are there to help them, as they are there to help you. And if you have a few questions here and there to ask about any of these services, you can set up one-on-one meetings and ask away that would usually cost a lot of money when trying to ask any simple question outside of the group. You get more out of the group by giving more. So if you are going to join BNI, you need to represent a product/service that the chapter you are joining doesn't have, and the more you help others, the more you receive help too, as BNI calls this value the Giver's Gain.