What I mean by this is that if you're a newbie investor it is expected that you may not know what you are doing in any given situation in doing deals. You are expected to need advice or guidance from more experienced investors and to possibly (absolutely) make some mistakes. For the most part as long as you are humble in your learning, are taking advice and in general are being an earnest student of real estate investing - you will be all right amongst your peers and in your investor community.
Now...Being an armature is much different in my opinion. It doesn't matter if you are a newbie or more experienced investor.Being an amateur means that you do shit wrong, follow the wrong protocol and in general do not respect the unwritten guidelines and rules of working with your fellow real estate investor. Bottom line is you act irresponsible, greedy or worse - like you know what your doing, but are really just wasting peoples time.
Don't be an amateur! Or you will get a reputation as a pain in the ass and likely shunned by other investors. If your not totally shunned then you will at least be dealt with at an arms length and you won't be given the same favors as other investors.
First of all an amateur investor will call me and tell me how many deals they have done and how much money they have to invest within the first 3 minutes of conversation. This is someone who is trying to "buy their way in" with nothing but talk and bloviating. It has been my experience that the big talkers never perform. It's the quite ones that you need to be looking for. They are the ones that have all the money. They don't have a lot of prove. They know what they can offer and they don't care who they impress.
Amateurs don't follow protocol. What does this mean? For example. If you call an investor who is wholesaling a property (me!) and say that you want to buy the property - then by god - you had better done your due diligence by then. If you say your sending the deposit - then send the deposit! Don't mess around for 3-4 days with every excuse in the book. If you call to say you are finally sure you want the deal and are going to wire money today then do it! Don't call an hour later to say that you just talked to your partner and he decided after all he doesn't want the property! You just wasted my whole morning asshole! NEVER call a wholesaler and say you want a property unless you know you want that property! NEVER call a wholesaler and say you are sending a wire only to back out of the deal an hour later! And never ever act as if dicking around with me for a week on this property and wasting my time and energy was not such a big deal. You are an amateur and a putz.
Lastly - don't be a greedy mofo. My friend and wholesaler Ginger Macias was telling me how one of her newbie students was trying to make a $30K wholesale fee off a property! Or maybe it was $50K. And then I think that fee was putting the house at 80% or something like that. Ridiculous! What a pig. Don't gouge. Take your small wholesale fee and give a good deal to the person who buys the property from you. Now that "investors" name is written in mud. She has been blacklisted by at least a few wholesalers now - including me. All by word of mouth.
All us investors talk to each other. It's a small world the investor community. This business is tough enough without having to deal with bozos. I won't do it I tell ya.
