Tempted to skip the frustratingly mundane process of getting educated before investing property? Read this first. Nila Sweeney, managing editor of Propertymarketinsider.com.au explains.

Some experts say that property education can be a curse when starting out as an investor. Because of the sheer amount of information, you could easily get lost and overwhelmed.

They argue that rather than make you confident, too much information could make you even more confused than when you started.

They say that getting thoroughly educated would divert you from your main goal and you could get bogged down with the unimportant details.

Getting educated can cause analysis paralysis that could cause you to miss out on the opportunities at hand according to these experts.

But before you're tempted to forgo learning about property investment, ask yourself this.

Can you really succeed without getting educated?

Perhaps. In isolated cases. But you’re simply exposing yourself to unnecessary risks. Why would you risk hundreds of thousands of dollars without understanding what you’re investing in?

Why would you take the expert's words as gospel and trust them without doing your own research?

Sadly, a lot of people still fall prey to these sly tactics. If you're not knowledgeable and aware, you too, would be convinced to trust their system, their technology and their so called experts to find you the best investment property.

These operators are counting on you to be overly trusting, complacent and lazy. They tap into your burning desire to get rich quickly without working hard.

We all know how these schemes turn out.

Knowledge is power. More than ever.

The rules of the property investing game have changed. The markets have moved and finance is harder to get. You need to be aware of all these factors before you invest.

But you also need to realise that you don’t need to become a property expert to succeed. At the very least, you need to know the basics of the asset class you’re investing in.

You need to understand the different strategies that you can use to make a profit and reduce your risk.You need to know how finance works and how to maximise it so you can build a portfolio you can retire on.

You have to learn how to manage your property, even if you’re using a property manager.

You need to know where to find the right information so you’re consuming unbiased reports, not the ones created by spruikers pretending to be independent.

Top tips for getting started quickly

Here are some tips on how to get started quickly and safely according to Jeremy Sheppard, creator of DSRData.com.au.

1. Learn everything you can

Buy a few books from a range of authors to get multiple opinions. Once you start hearing the same thing over and over, you know you’re ready. Be cautious of expensive courses with “high hope” marketing tactics. Whatever you can learn in a weekend course is not worth thousands of dollars.

2. Get your finances sorted

Budget so you live well within your means. Make sure your investment doesn’t stretch you too far. Remember that property investing is a long-term game. Don’t plan to tough it out for the first year, because that first year might stretch out to five.

3. Start with buy and hold

Capital growth is the ant’s pants of property investing. It’s also the easiest strategy if you know what to look for. Start off with this basic strategy. Once you can nail this you may never need any other strategy. But even if you stretch into other strategies, they’ll all benefit from having underlying growth.

4. Identify vested interests

The most noise in the property investment industry comes from people trying to sell you something. Not all of them are sinister.

You’ll find plenty of well-meaning individuals who are simply badly mistaken. You won’t know who to believe sometimes. But if you can recognise when someone has something to gain by the conclusions they can get you to draw, then that’s a good start to protecting yourself.

This article was first published at www.propertymarketinsider.com.au

Nila Sweeney
Managing Editor of Property Market Insider and a former editor of Your Investment Property Magazine.