Years ago, the vast majority of people were content simply to own their own home. Today, however, more and more people are exploring the possibilities of real estate investing. Even after the harsh lessons of the 2008 real estate bubble, today’s consumers increasingly have access to an incredible amount of data and financing options to invest in a second home, a rental property, or a fixer upper.
Many new investors are following advice of agents who are not sophisticated enough to understand how to evaluate [an investment]…You can stand up ahead of the pack as an agent by learning this stuff.
— JOSHUA DORKIN
Nevertheless, it wasn’t always so easy. Twelve years ago, Joshua Dorkin was a real estate investor struggling to find the tools and resources he needed to keep up with his properties and make smart financial decisions. The pickings were slim. “I felt like there was no credible place that I could go to learn about real estate investing, without spending a fortune with some guy that just got out of some kind of snake oil class,” Joshua told us.
After coming up short, Joshua decided to take matters into his own hands and start his own website. Today, BiggerPockets is a thriving community of over 500,000 experienced and aspiring real estate investors with a wealth of content around buying, managing, and selling investment properties.
BiggerPockets isn’t just for consumers, either, Joshua explained. “I don’t think somebody goes into being an agent saying, ‘Hey, I wanna be an agent for the rest of my life,’” he said. “We’re all doing this to build wealth. Well, there are ways to use real estate and use the skills that you’ve got to build wealth through real estate, not just transactionally as an agent.”
Nevertheless, Joshua told us, agents have a lot to learn. “I love agents. We all need agents,” he explained. “But the problem is that many new investors are following advice of agents who are not sophisticated enough to understand how to evaluate [an investment] themselves…You can stand up ahead of the pack as an agent by learning this stuff. It’s not hard.”
Whether you’re living from paycheck to paycheck and want more from your real estate career, or just looking to reach a new audience with your business, Joshua’s content and community can help you do what most of us got into this business to do: build wealth through real estate.
In this interview, Joshua Dorkin explains why a well-developed business plan is crucial to successful real estate investing, and outlines how agents can successfully attract and serve the modern investor.
– Matt & Seth
