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Real Estate Investing in Chicago has a sexy appeal to it. I am sure everyone has seen the TV infomercials where a guru interviews his students and they claim to have made 30k in 3 weeks. Is that possible? Most definitely, and everyone gets excited and decide they too want to be involved. After buying their product and CD collection, all the excitement is over.  What now?

I have come up with 5 quick ways to get involved in Real Estate Investing without having to buy a CD or educational program from self declared gurus.

1. Find a real estate networking group that is serious about what they do. The best way to find groups in Chicago is through Meetup.com and REIevents.com. WCRT is a fine group, and so is your local REIA, www.reia.org. Take everyone’s business card!

2        Get a newspaper and call all the classified “We Buy Houses” ads. Also if you are driving around and see one of those ads, call that number. When the phone gets answered, just say who you are and you want to know more about what they buy.  The key is to listen, because you will here exactly what Chicago real estate investors are doing and looking for.

3        Read 1 or 2 books that deal with personal development and real estate. Everyone’s favorite in Chicago, if not the US, is Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. His book is a great eye opener and helps adjust one’s thinking about wealth. For real estate, Keller Williams’ The Real Estate Millionaire, has interviews and bios of many investors throughout the country.  

4        Drive around your neighbor hood and begin to take notice of the “ugly” houses in your backyard. Take down the address and see it the house is in foreclosure. Best way to do this, if you live in Cook County, is to go to http://www.cookcountyassessor.com/data/searchflat/search.asp and put in the specified address. Once you find the info, take down the PIN number. That pin can be used on other websites to find a) who the owner is and b) if they are in foreclosure.

5        Ask the investors you have met and spoken to, what you could do to help them. Many investors pay up to $1000 for each property you find that they buy. Just start by asking friends and family if they know of anyone who needs help and get that number. Call that person and check to see if they need to sell, if so, connect them to your group of investors and follow up.

There are so many other ways to get started it can make your head spin. I hope that these small tips can help you get started, if anything, help guide you. Many Chicago real estate investors are making a fortune right now and so should you. If you want to see properties, go to www.ChicagoCashflowProperties.com and sign up!