Avery: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Short-Term Show. We’ve got a familiar face on the show today. We’ve had him on before. He was actually just on an episode of the Short-Term Rental Management Show, Luke’s show. You probably know him from Bigger Pockets – we have Dave Meyer. How’s it going, Dave?

Dave: It’s going good, it’s so glad to be back. I always love coming on this show.

Avery: Well, we always love having you. Thanks for coming on, of course.

Dave: My pleasure, yeah.

Avery: So guys, Dave has a new book out that we’re here to talk about. It’s about to come out, called “Start With Strategy,” and I think that this is so important for you guys to hear about, especially if you’re a new investor because many of us, myself included, just started kind of running out and buying things, flying by the seat of our pants. And I think it’s important to be organized upfront. That has worked out well for me, but it probably could have worked out in a less stressful way had we been a little more organized upfront. So, um, Dave, do you want to tell us a little bit about what the premise of the book is even?

Dave: Though I already kind of said that, no, of course, you hit it right on the head. The premise of the book is that there are tons of different, exciting, great ways to invest in real estate, but not every tactic, not every strategy works for every investor. For some people, short-term rentals are the right answer; for others, flipping houses is the right answer. This extends beyond just tactics. Like for some people, quitting your job and going into real estate full-time is best, while others stay in their job. Prior to this book, I had really struggled to find resources that helped me or any other investors figure out what they want out of real estate investing and how to pick the right types of deals to pursue that goal. And so, I wrote the book with that effort in mind.

Avery: Okay, so I think that a lot of people get so caught up in just the wealth of information and things to do. I think I’m going to naturally gravitate toward strategy a little bit, but a lot of people, they’re like, “Oh, they’ll call me, and, you know, I sell short-term rentals, but they’ll call me and say, ‘Hey, I’m looking across the country for anything that you have: multifamily, commercial,’ like they just go into everything.” I’m like, “Well, guys, we sell single-family short-term rentals in these markets,” and pass that.

Dave: So what do you think is a good starting point for somebody who’s like, “Okay, I have a little money, I don’t exactly know where I want to start. How do they figure that out?”

Avery: I think the most important place to start is honestly with a little bit of self-reflection. And I know that’s not the sexiest or most fun thing for everyone. I actually think it’s great—a lot of people want to just jump in, like you said, and start buying deals, but there are so many different deals, and it’s very easy to go wrong if you don’t take a minute to think about it. So, I recommend something that I’ve spent a lot of time on over the last few years, which is clarifying what I call a “vision,” and that’s just narrowing down and trying to figure out exactly what you want out of real estate investing. To me, that is comprised of a couple of different things, like your personal values, but also what is your risk tolerance. For example, what are your financial goals? Are you trying to move up your retirement a few years, or are you trying to be a billionaire?