Getting started in real estate investing is exciting—but it’s also overwhelming. Where do you start? What do you do first? It’s not as simple as just buying a house.
How do I know if a deal is really good?
How do I explain that deal to others?
How do I pay for it—bank, credit cards, or private lender?
The truth is, none of that works well until you’ve built credibility and confidence. That’s where your local real estate investor community comes in. They can help you learn the business, provide a network of people to collaborate with, and often become the very people you’ll do business with.
Meet Robert Mohon: Professional Borrower & REIA Leader
Robert Mohon, who’s joining us at MAREI this October, is a long-time landlord, past president of the Real Estate Investors of Nashville, and what he calls a “professional borrower.”
We’ve been following Robert’s insights on his Facebook page to learn what he recommends for new investors just getting started. We wanted to share some of his insights and expand on a few of them.
1. Why Joining Your Local REIA Helps New Investors
Your Real Estate Investor Association or REIA isn’t just a meeting—it’s your shortcut to success. When you show up regularly, network, and volunteer, you’ll meet the people who’ve already done what you’re trying to do. Whether it’s here at Mid-America Association of Real Estate Investors, some other group in town, or even a virtual group, tap into your community and get involved.
One seasoned investor once told Robert —“If you want to succeed, volunteer.” That advice changed his career by helping him build trust, gain visibility, and connect with mentors who shaped his path.
If you haven’t yet checked out a MAREI Meeting, grab your first-time guest pass here.
2. Learn Your Numbers Before Asking for Funding
The best place to start as a new investor is learning what makes a deal, before you even try to go buy a deal you need to learn how to determine the following.
What’s the property worth fixed up?
What will it rent for?
What’s your repair budget?
How long will the project take?
If you can’t answer those with real, provable data, you don’t know enough to do a deal safely, let alone ask anyone to fund it. BUT your REIA community can help you learn how to estimate repairs, analyze deals, and present them in a way that builds credibility. They can even partner with you through a deal. Having them involved might allow you to access funding you otherwise wouldn’t—or put together deals you wouldn’t know how to structure alone.
By the way, here at MAREI we have a totally free book you can request in PDF form that digs deep into the numbers. Request your copy of The Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing here.
3. Funding Your First Deal: REIA Partners, Private Lenders, or Banks?
As a new investor, you’ll hear a lot of opinions about where to borrow. Here’s what we gathered from Robert’s Facebook Videos:
Private lenders can be great if you have a trusted friend or family member who wants to partner with you. But if the deal goes bad, so does the relationship. Keep in mind private lenders can run out of money, so you might need quite a few in case one has all their money lent out.
REIA partners – If you bring a strong deal, someone in your REIA might partner with you. They bring the money, you bring the hustle, and together you learn, earn, and share the profits. This is a great way to get started, and many long-time partnerships start this way. Over time you may want to go on your own—and that’s where banks come in.
Banks are slower and stricter, but they’re consistent. Building your credit and developing relationships with the right banks can open doors to loans for individual deals or business lines of credit that can be very valuable. They can create money, lend again and again, and won’t run out of funds.
👉 Bottom line: if you don’t already have a trusted private lender, start with the bank. Use REIA partners to build credibility that strengthens your position when you go to the bank.
4. Zero-Percent Credit Cards: Tempting but Risky for Investors
Lots of gurus talk about funding first deals with credit cards. Here’s the truth: first houses aren’t $5,000–$10,000 anymore, so you can’t buy the property itself this way. You might use cards to fund repairs, but that can be COSTLY. Robert shares with us that while you can get 0% credit card offers—the fees add up, and after the grace period interest rates can shoot up to 30–40%. That leaves you with debt you can’t get rid of, and banks don’t like seeing heavy credit card balances when you come back for a real loan.
Your REIA peers will tell you: this might work in a pinch, but it’s not a long-term strategy.
5. How to Find a Real Estate Mentor
The fastest way to shorten your learning curve is to find someone who’s already where you want to be. Robert explains five types of mentors in one of his Facebook videos and we matched them up to the people you might find at MAREI.
A coach you pay for direct guidance – a big commitment both ways, often best once you’ve started investing. This can be costly, and here at MAREI, we don’t usually recommend this level of mentor when you are first starting.
An advisor who shares advice, paid or unpaid. We often bring in instructors for our master classes on Saturdays who would fit into this category. Sometimes they have a step-by-step course or extra education for a fee. For example, when Robert speaks in October, he’ll bring his A-game in 90 minutes, but he also has deeper courses available for those who want more.
A peer group for accountability and encouragement. These are others who do what you do. You might find a group of 5–10 people you meet with regularly for accountability or to mastermind.
A community like MAREI, where you meet regularly and learn together. This includes our monthly meetings and subgroup gatherings on the calendar.
A proximity mentor you learn from simply by being around them—the people you talk to as you go about your daily life.
Each has unique benefits—new investors should aim to connect with at least one in categories 2–5.
Where to Start: Learn | Connect | Do
If you’re brand new, don’t stress about whether your first deal is with a private lender, a bank, or credit cards. Focus first on building credibility:
Learn your numbers
Connect with your community
Do small deals with the support of mentors and peers
That’s how you go from beginner to bankable.
👉 Ready to take your first step? Here are three easy ways to get started:
Download your free Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing – a quick-start resource that will help you understand the basics and spot your first deal opportunities.
Join MAREI today – unlock monthly meetings, replays, networking opportunities, and big discounts on master classes. Membership starts at just $25/month.
Attend our October 14th MAREI Meeting at the DoubleTree in Overland Park – hear Robert Mohon share insider strategies for getting all the money you need from banks. First-time guests can claim a free pass here at MAREI.org/guestpass/
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