Northern Virginia Real Estate: How to Begin in Real Estate?

As what a Chinese proverb says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

We tend to ask ourselves “when is the best time to start?” Well, the best time to start is NOW! Do research, ask advice from experienced people and go from there. 

I’ve been a Real Estate Agent in Northern Virginia since 2007 and I have been helping Real Estate Investors since almost just as long because I have been investing since the late 1990’s or early 2000’s. Oftentimes, I work with first time investors and they ask me

“To begin investing in Real Estate, what should I do and what’s the first step?”

The question I would ask them is “Do you already own your home?” because then that should be your first step. It would make a lot sense to be paying your own mortgage rather than your landlords. 

Let’s say that you do own your home, the question I would be asking is “would you consider to sell or move up?”. If you’ve lived in that home for at least 2 years, that could be a good investment if you’re up sizing from a condo to a single family home or a condo to a townhome. The first property could make good sense to keep for you as an investment. That gives you the opportunity to sell it within the next 3 years and avoid the capital gains tax and I can get into more details on that personally, all you have to do is give me a call.

What do you do if you don’t want to sell or move?

  • Keep that as a rental and buy the next home

  • Save up some cash to have good credit

  • You’re also gonna need cash

Now there’s “guru’s” out there that says “Hey! buy there with no money and use other people's money, yada yada yada” Yes, that is a possibility and I can help you with that as well but it’s just not a viable solution for most.

If I can answer any questions for you with regards to Real Estate Investment or anything related to Real Estate Sales at all, feel free to give me a call, my name is Dan Rochon and you can reach me at 703-346-2776 or send me an email at Dan@greetingsvirginia.com.

 

Dan Rochon

Dan Rochon is an Associate Broker in VA, Broker in MD; Owner of Rochon Investments, LLC; Owner and Co-founder of www.GreetingsVirginia.com and Owner of other Joint Ventures as well as a real estate principles instructor at Moseley Real Estate Schools.

As a real estate sales agent, Dan and his team are consistently top producers in their marketplace and provide solutions for their clients. Through their investing company, Dan and Traci Rochon have been investing in residential and commercial real estate ventures for more than the past decade.

Dan and his wife Traci are frequent speakers and are often quoted in media stories about the current real estate market. The Rochon's have been featured on The Nightly News with Brian Williams, The Today Show, CNBC, The Washington Post, The Washington Examiner, WTOP News, Voted as The Best of DC Real Estate Agent in the Washington City Paper Readers Poll, and more...