Advice real estate

[MgoSam]

I work with my dad for his business and am being groomed to run it. My mom works on the side but has all her savings in a bank account and over the past year has been wanting me to get an apartment complex with her  and be partners. I haven't been as interested because I have been busy with work, but now I am warming up to the idea.

The problem is that I don't know anything about it. I need to do a lot more research before I would have a semblance of confidence of doing anything, does anyone here have any advice? Would it be better to look for an apartment building or what about a condo or a single house?

[deborah]

If you don't know anything about something, don't bet your life savings on it!

That said, some people do make money out of apartment buildings. Others don't.

[Fishingmn]

Biggerpockets.com is one of the best sites for real estate investors and they have a beginner's guide I'd start with - http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing

An apartment building will certainly be more complex than starting with single family/condo but it really comes into your goals and what the best options are for where you are thinking of investing. MMM has a forum for real estate advice so feel free to post there too.

You may also need to ask whether investing with mom is because she feels left out that you are doing too much with dad? There are plenty of other things you could do together that might not take on so much risk if that's the issue.

[TomTX]

Has your mom run an apartment complex before?

Have you gone to the Real Estate forum here and posted what the numbers look like?

[arebelspy]

Step 1: Start getting educated on the topic.

Full stop.

Once you've done a sufficient amount of that, you'll start knowing what questions to ask and can grow from there.

Start reading real estate books on the topic you want.  Short blog posts and forum posts aren't going to do it, compared with a 300-500 page comprehensive book.  Multiple of them.

We're not going to be able to give you enough knowledge, nor will BiggerPockets.  We can help enhance, and clarify, but you should start with some A to Z big picture stuff.