Foreclosure investing is actually quite not quite as difficult when people have finally taken that leap of faith and go for it. This really applies to anything else in life. Remember all those late nights where you'd stay up and watch those "how to make millions in your sleep" tV spots. Or perhaps you remember all those times you went to the book store and purchased tons of real estate investment study guides.

In fact you probably have a huge library and collection of real estate, investment, and how to get rich quick type books by now. Some people may get a feeling of being overwhelmed after wading through those thick books and studying all the complex terminology.

The bottomline is, if you are a naturally goal-oriented and self-disciplined person than you can probably achieve a full-time income in real estate within a year with the right system. So how do you choose the "right" system when everyone and his uncle says they are an expert or guru within the real estate arena?

One thing you might want to consider doing is to align yourself with a friend or relative who is already successful in real estate investment or at least in the type of real estate that you are interested in doing. Don't be shy, definitely get in touch with them.

It may be a friend from high school or college, or perhaps even a former room mate that you knew when you were just getting started with your own life and needed someone to share the rent costs with in order to have your own place, etc. I am sure that if you ruminate for a bit, you may even surprise yourself at how much opportunity there is in your own circle.

That is actually a very good idea- the best way to get into real estate successfully is to have a teacher or at minimum someone that can really show you the ropes and provide feedback in real-time. No matter how well written the courses you're looking at is, nothing really compares to a trusted friend or adviser that can actually walk you through this process step-by-step.

Even if it isn't step by step, it's still great to be able to call someone up and ask for constructive criticism on what you are doing as well as to add some fire in your belly to the process. Folks this relationship is priceless. You can save hundreds of hours of time learning things on your own, and also save thousands upon thousands of dollars in costly mistakes.

Ultimately you will have to walk the path yourself in order to learn and gain from this wonderful industry. But the initial first steps will furnish you with the momentum to be able to zoom on your own two wings.

Everyone has heard about house flipping. There is even a reality show called flip that house. A lot of news headlines and real estate people talk about illegal house flipping. But if this process is illegal, then how is everyone doing it and talking about how to do it?

The fact of the matter is that house flipping is not illegal if it is done properly and ethically. Anyone who has ever bought real estate for a primary home and then sold it for a profit later has successfully flipped a house. That is the basic idea behind house flipping. The real estate investment is purchased, and then resold later for a higher price. The length of ownership time may be months or decades, and that does not matter for this purpose. Sometimes this may involve renovating or repairing the real estate before selling it, to increase the value of the investment.

What everyone has been calling illegal house flipping is actually real estate fraud. These cases generally involve people who have lied or misled about significant facts to wrongly inflate the value of the real estate investment. This includes payments or bribes to get the property appraised at a value higher than what the real estate is actually worth, falsifying down payments or any other information like tax receipts and check stubs to get a loan that is not qualified for, and more. One type of real estate fraud is lying or covering up obvious or serious problems with the house to lenders, as well as to buyers who are not sophisticated. Another fraud type is to back date any documents that are needed for the loan, such as lease agreements, to give the impression of a longer length of time.

Unfortunately, the news media has confused house flipping with the types of fraud mentioned above. Many escrow and title companies refuse to do double closings, and many lenders have something that is called seasoning requirements on the ownership by the seller. This generally means that if you have not owned the real estate investment for at least half a year most lenders will assume there is something funny. This means that these lenders will not loan to a buyer who is trying to buy your house under these circumstances.

Flipping houses is not illegal as long as there are no misleading or fraudulent statements made or signed. If you are investing in real estate, make sure that you read all the paperwork and contracts very closely. The contract is the statement of facts that you are providing to the lender. This contract should not contain any deceptions or false statements. This process only becomes illegal when fraud is committed, usually in the form of deceptive or misleading statements made in the lending contract. As long as you act honestly and ethically, there is nothing illegal about making money by doing honest business.

Copyright © 2007 Joel Teo. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author's information with live links only.)