Do-it-yourself investors should learn everything they can about many different ways to make profits with real estate. I don’t believe you can reach your maximum po­tential as an investor until you learn to do many things well. These include buying single family houses, fore­closure properties, rundown apartments, options, wrap installment selling, landlording and buying discount paper. It may seem like a big task but all the pieces will tie to­gether to make you a complete investor.

I also feel strongly that successful investors must have a specialty-something you learn to do better than everyone else in your investment area. Your “ace in the hole” investment strategy. Something you can always count on to make you money when everything else quits working. I specialize in fixing rundown properties. It always works for me.

There’s a popular myth we’ve all heard: “It takes money to make money.” William Nickerson, author of the most widely read do-it-yourself real estate book, How I Turned $1000 Into a Million Dollars (959), started in­vesting with only $1,000 saved from his telephone sales job. Nickerson calculated back in 1980, using an inflation adjustment formula that it would take about $2,500 to start out like he did.

Today, 30 years later, Nickerson’s calculation may need to be doubled or tripled again; however, Nickerson was always quick to tell anyone who would listen: “It doesn’t have to be your money, nor does it even need to be cash!” Knowing what to do and how to invest wisely is far more important than having the money to invest.