Networking for real estate investors can be a tough deal. While most of us enjoy new friendships and the excitement that comes from successful partnerships, the act of actually making connections and forming new professional relationships can be tricky and awkward.

Where to start? How do we make those relationships genuine?

It’s all nerve-wracking! But never fear: if you’ve ever been intimidated by networking as a real estate investor, we’ve got a handy list of dos and don’ts that will help you make the right connections you need to succeed.

10 Essential DOs and DON’Ts of Real Estate...

Things are cooking in Dallas-Ft. Worth! For all of the fears surrounding the Texas real estate market in 2016 due to the flagging energy sector, real estate has refused to flinch. Overall, the success seen in Dallas real estate has been nothing short of astounding—but not without its lingering questions, concerns, and pain points.

Real estate investors deal with a lot of numbers and data. They just do! There are a million considerations when looking to purchase a new investment property, or even when assessing the financial condition of a current property. In our information age, where we have so much data at our fingertips, it’s a little too tempting to take data at face value.

5 Tips on Reading Real Estate Data the Right Way

Some people are slower to embrace change than others—And that’s not necessarily a bad thing! In real estate, change tends to come slow. For the most part, the same rules have governed how we’ve done things for decades, with a few adjustments here and there.

But as technology changes, real estate does, too.

Now more than ever, we have data at our fingertips and ways to manage our finances, properties, and day-to-day businesses through technology. It’s not so much about the newest app or the newest model of smartphone, though those do offer brand new resources for real estate investors to increase their efficiency. It’s about how technology creates opportunities to innovate—ways that weren’t there before.

The changing landscape of real estate technology is something investors should think about on a bigger, broader scale: how are new innovations, new startups, and new technologies changing how we do real estate on a grand scale?

New Technology, Methods, and Why They Matter

Many of us are guilty of focusing a little too much on income. Granted, income is important. We have to have money to cover bills, needs and desires and offer life security for ourselves and families. No one is denying that security is very important to our overall wellbeing.

New investors, no matter where they’re starting out, have a massive learning curve if they want to be successful. It’s true—there’s a ton to know before you can really dive in. If you want to find success in real estate investment from the get-go without making a lot of costly mistakes, there’s a foundation that must be laid from the very beginning.

8 Fundamental Concepts for New Investors to Master in the Beginning

Stepping into a brand new real estate market isn’t easy. Your local market is like that childhood friend you grew up with. You knew him, his parents, his third grade teacher, that embarrassing incident in the cafeteria in the fifth grade, and every awkward step all the way through high school.

You know him like the back of your hand. You could not talk to him for years, but meet him for coffee right now and pick up where you left off.

But a new market? There’s so many years you’ve missed out on! So much history you don’t know! How can you ever hope to catch up to people who’ve known that market for years and years?

Here’s the thing: it’s not a lost cause. Plenty of real estate investors successfully invest in out-of-state markets and go beyond their own local areas all the time. Is it more work? Yes. But it’s very, very possible, especially in our Information Age.

If you’ve confined yourself to local markets up until now, you may be a little nervous about breaking into a new real estate market for the first time. But don’t worry: we have tips!

For many real estate investors, real estate isn’t their full-time job. It’s something they do on the side to earn passive income. They don’t need a full office building or to hire a staff, especially if they’re a turnkey investor!

Every investor, however, needs some kind of workspace. A home office is essential! You want a space where you can have the clarity and drive to be productive. When you sit down, you want to get stuff done. That means you aren’t working for your couch, the kitchen table, or a beanbag chair. Those might work in the short-term: but you need a dedicated space.

When crafting the optimal home office, there are a few things every investor will need to ensure they’re set up for long-term success:

You started off investing in real estate hoping to earn passive income. Your idea was to buy a property, rent it out, and generate positive cash flow that would help you gain financial freedom, save up for retirement, or have the disposable income you’ve always wanted.

Somewhere along the line, though, something got out of sync. You found yourself doing more and more work. Suddenly, investing in real estate wasn’t so much passive as it was a full time job. You probably went into this knowing there would be some work involved, but didn’t expect it take over your life!

Some investors enjoy investing full time. They want it to be their life and a full-time job. But many don’t. They prefer to keep their investments passive and in the background—and when they’re not, it’s a big red flag. Something has to change.