45: Finding Your Unfair Advantage, Rural Investing, and Getting Started with Tom Sylvester

2013-11-21

On today’s episode of the BiggerPockets Podcast, we cover a huge variety of really interesting topics with real estate investor Tom Sylvester (yes, that rhymes!)Tom has been investing in the Rochester, NY area for several years and has a great perspective on getting started, building systems to manage your business, investing in rural areas (or as Brandon says, “rrrrrurrral”,) and a whole lot more.Don’t miss a second of this excellent interview!Read the transcript for episode 45 with Tom Sylvester here.In This Show, We Cover

On today’s episode of the BiggerPockets Podcast, we cover a huge variety of really interesting topics with real estate investor Tom Sylvester (yes, that rhymes!)

Tom has been investing in the Rochester, NY area for several years and has a great perspective on getting started, building systems to manage your business, investing in rural areas (or as Brandon says, “rrrrrurrral”,) and a whole lot more.

Don’t miss a second of this excellent interview!

Read the transcript for episode 45 with Tom Sylvester here.

In This Show, We Cover

Tom’s early lessons
The advantages and disadvantages to rural investing
Finding mentors and networking
Talking with your spouse about getting started with real estate
Getting started with real estate at a young age
When is the right time to quit your day job?
Red flags for problem tenants
The $10 Toilet part that could have saved Tom hundreds of dollars
And much more.

Links from the Show

Investing in Rural Markets: The Secret to Real Estate Investing Success?
The Top 100 Ways To Make Money In Real Estate
How to Get Started With $100 blog post by Tom
Keyword Alerts
How To Survive When Your Spouse Doesn’t Believe In Your Dream
How to Start Investing In Real Estate at a Young Age (or a “Young at Heart Age”)
BP Podcast 044: Creating Systems to Flip Houses While Still Employed with Michael Woodward
Tenant Screening: The Ultimate Guide
Cashflow 101: Using the Game to Define Your Investing Strategy
Home Depot Toilet Fill Valve
Dropbox App

Books Mentioned in the Show

The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich by David Bach
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
The 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
The Book on Flipping Houses by J Scott
The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs by J Scott
What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow… And 36 Other Key Financial Measures by Frank Gallinelli
The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing by BiggerPockets

Tweetable Topics

Find your unfair advantage in business and exploit it. (Tweet This!)
What do you want your life to be? How are you going to get there? (Tweet This!)
If you aren’t finding success – be persistent but change your tactic. (Tweet This!)
Know the difference between a cheap property and deal. (Tweet This!)

Connect with Tom