1. Do not overanalyze. You may lose a lot of great opportunities to make great deal of money. Start making offers.
2. Get the property under a contract first with a safety clause.
3. Ask fellow investors, real estate broker about the property value. If it makes sense go ahead with the purchase.
4. If you are buying for a quick flip neighborhoods do not matter. What matters is the $$$ you are going to make.
5. Your perfect buy should be a house/condo/building in excellent condition and good neighborhood.
6. Your Second choice should be a cosmetic fixer in a good neighborhood.
7. Inspect the property. Try to get as many things fixed by the seller as possible. Check the neighborhood. Drive around the block. Look at the houses in the neighborhood, what is their condition. Look at the cars parked in the street. Old cars normally can tell you a lot about the neighborhood. Trash on the sidewalks can spell less then great neighborhood. Which in turns means you should buy and sell quickly (most of the time). Renting in those neighborhood could be challenging, especially for the new investor.
8. Use a real estate agent or broker. My first great deal was found by a broker. Try to get access to the MLS so you can look for deals yourself.
9. Shop around for Financing. My experiences with the loan officers tells me one thing. Email them your questions and ask them to email you back their answers or put them on paper. They tend to always change terms and rates (though illegal), and put junk charges.
10. Try to reduce your Title/Escrow charges review them with an experienced investor or real estate agent.
11. Use a real estate attorney for your foreclosure/pre-foreclosure purchases.
12. You can check free Real Estate Investing Educational sites.
13. Make connections with other fellow real estate investors. You can learn great deal first hand experience from them. One peace of advice alone could be worth thousands for you. So if you like challenges and lifetime learning Real Estate Investing is a great field to work and have fun.
14. Advertise yourself. Get business cards hand them to interested people. Place ads in the newspaper and use whatever other means of advertising you can think of.
15. Use the right Real Estate Forms when you buy and sell.
16. Do not be afraid to buy real estate. Fear and lack of knowledge are the number one factor for failure.