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The average real estate course covers just a few ways of making money in real estate. That is a strength and a weakness. It is a strength, because concentrating on one particular investing strategy is probably more effective than trying to learn fifty different ways to make money in real estate. It is a weakness because the techniques it teaches may not be the right ones for you.

We are all different, aren't we? Would a man who loves to fix up and sell old homes necessarily have the motivation and mind set to make money with speculative commercial real estate? He could learn, but would he do as well as when investing in an area he enjoys? Would he do as well with a real estate course that taught him how to talk to families facing foreclosure, to convince them to sell to him?

The point is that you need to discover what kinds of real estate investing are best suited to your personality and skills. Spend an afternoon in the local bookstore for this. A good one will have fifty books on twenty different ways to make money with real estate. Browse them, take notes, imagine yourself doing the things described in them, and see what types of investing appeal to you.

I hated being a landlord, but you may love it. Fixer uppers can yield quick profits, and you get to be very creative in this type of investing, but are you ready for the risk and uncertainty? Flipping real estate contracts can be a low-risk low-investment strategy that pays well, but requires a willingness to spend a lot of time face-to-face with sellers and other investors, negotiating.

Again, there are dozens and dozens of ways to make money in real estate, and some will work better for you than others. Find the ones that make sense and start getting educated. Of course, you may not find all the information you need to know all in one place. In that case, it is time to design your own real estate investing course.

Your Personal Real Estate Course

On a piece of paper make three columns, labeled "books," "people" and "other resources." Then start creating a plan or "course" that involves all three of these. You can, for example, seek out the books that are most directly relevant to the type of investing you'll be doing, and put them on the list. You can find the books online, at the bookstore, or in the library.

Those who can help teach you belong in the "people" category. They may include investors that have experience in the area you are interested in - find these at a local real estate club. Add real estate agents to the list - browse advertisements to see which ones sell a lot of the types of properties you'll be looking at.

"Other resources" might include seminars, tapes, internet real estate investing forums, and anything else that can be part of your course.

Make a list of everything you need to learn. There should be a corresponding source for each of these necessary lessons in one of your three columns. Add to this master list as you learn more about what you need to learn.

Finally, write down your study goals based on your lists. Set completion dates for reading each of the books on your list. Make appointments to go to real estate club meetings or to meet with real estate agents who can help you. Set goals for using any other resources, and fashion it all into a real estate investing course that gives you the knowledge and confidence necessary to make your first (or next) investment.