The Grab the Map Podcast: Real Estate Investing Info and Advice for All of Us · Johnoson Crutchfield

Episode 87: How to Get Started in Real Estate Investing from Scratch | Real Estate Tips for Beginners

March 25, 2025·53 min·1 clip

Key insight from segment 5

He starts by saying the listener is probably interested in real estate investing. He says the whole point is to talk about getting started from scratch. He frames the conversation around what he would do if he had to begin again today. He then shares a bit of his own background. He says he was a principal, a teacher, and a college professor at Ole Miss and the University of Texas at Arlington. He says he spent about ten years in education. He connects that work to his larger goal of helping people transform their lives. He says education matters because it helps people change. He says he got deep into real estate in 2018. He points to the BRRRR strategy as the move that pulled him in. From there, the episode shifts into the discipline side of the business. He lays out a daily schedule for real estate work. He says the morning hours should be used for income-producing activity. He gives a block from about 8 a.m. to noon. After noon, he says he moves into passion work. That can include mentoring, leading a group, recording videos, writing a book, or other projects that matter to him even if they do not always produce income. He says he usually uses the 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. window for that. Then he spends about 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. reflecting on the day. He checks whether he hit his four-hour work shift. He checks whether he did the kinds of tasks a real estate investor should be doing every day. He reviews whether his passion projects moved forward. He also writes down what needs to go on tomorrow's list. He tells part-time investors to block out their own time after work. He mentions evenings and Saturdays as realistic windows. He warns that if time goes off the schedule, results usually go off the schedule too. He says many people want deals but are not being honest about how much time and energy the work takes. He adds that it took him a year or two of listening to podcasts and watching YouTube before the learning started to turn into action. He closes by pushing listeners to decide whether they really have the hustle. He says some people will want coaching, support, or a community to work alongside them. He ends with a direct invitation to reach out and stop just looking at it.

As heard by us

A steady starter guide that puts discipline ahead of theory.

John Crexfield makes a plainspoken case for starting real estate investing from zero. He ties the advice to his own path from education into real estate and to the BRRRR strategy he picked up in 2018, but the point is not his biography.

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Need a first-step map for real estate investing that tells you where to put your hours?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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