RewardExpert Team 
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July 2, 2020 
If you are interested in real estate investing, you need to visit BiggerPockets. They offer forums, online calculators, podcasts, and books full of the information you need to build a profitable real estate business. A majority of the real estate resources are free, so there’s nothing stopping you from increasingly our real estate knowledge.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Lauren Hogan, the Senior Director of Product Marketing at BiggerPockets, to learn more about the valuable resources available.
Why Was BiggerPockets Created?
Years ago, Joshua Dorkin was a real estate investor as a side hustle. His real estate business wasn’t performing very well, so he searched online to pick up some tips. Unfortunately, every resource he found were “real estate gurus” offering their courses and training programs for thousands of dollars. Joshua couldn’t find any resources that would answer his questions for free.
In 2004, Joshua decided that he would create a free resource for all real estate investors. Over the last 15 years, BiggerPockets has grown into the largest online resource for people interested in learning about real estate.
The website really started to hit its stride in 2012. And BiggerPockets recently surpassed 1 million members in mid-2018. As of December 2018, there are now over 1.2 million members!
What Resources Are Available For Investors?
Whether you are an established real estate investor or someone considering your first rental property or flip, BiggerPockets has something for you.
BiggerPockets Forums
The forums are an excellent resource to learn from others and get your questions answered. People interested in learned can read forum posts about every real estate question imaginable. Once you have completed a free registration, you can interact with other investors on the forums.
If you have the knowledge to share, you can reply to investor questions. And if you have a question that you don’t know the answer to, ask your question and you’ll have many people replying to share their expertise and experiences.
BiggerPockets offers the ability to receive notifications whenever specific keywords are mentioned in the forums. If someone tags you (similar to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels), you’ll be notified so you can stay current in the conversation.
The BiggerPockets Real Estate Investing Podcast
This weekly podcast is hosted by Brandon Turner and David Green. These in-depth conversations with real estate investors provide incredible detail about their experience and advice to improve your real estate business.
Episodes generally run about an hour and cover a variety of topics. You’ll hear from fix-n-flippers, buy-and-hold investors, tax lien investors, and so much more. The podcast is available on the most popular podcast platforms. Download a few for your next road trip, morning commute, or walk around the neighborhood.
BiggerPockets Money Podcast
The team at BiggerPockets realized that investors needed to be financially sound if they were to achieve success in real estate. So they created the BiggerPockets Money Podcast to educate listeners about personal finance through expert interviews.
The BiggerPockets Money podcast is hosted by Scott Trench and Mindy Jensen. The weekly shows are about an hour in length and cover a wide variety of personal finance topics. Topics include real estate investing, saving money on your daily expenses, and how to achieve your financial goals. I was a guest on the show in July 2018 where we talked about how to earn even more value from your rewards credit cards
BiggerPockets Books
Because some real estate investors prefer books, BiggerPockets distills the knowledge from the forums, pockets, and experts into books focused on specific subjects. Books range in topics from getting started to financing real estate investments to personal finance. They even recently released an intention journal to hold people’s hands through the next 90 days of their journey to financial independence.
BiggerPockets Paid Memberships
Although much of the website is free, additional benefits are available for paid members. I’m a real estate investor and have been a Pro member of BiggerPockets for several years. The value of the tools and additional education is well worth the membership fees I pay each year.
Does It Cost Money To Be A Member?
Becoming a member of BiggerPockets is absolutely free. Because the founder, Joshua Dorkin, started this journey because free information was not readily available, the core website will always be free.
Free members can access millions of pages of forum and blog content at no charge. They can interact in the forums by asking questions, providing answers, and setting alerts. The Real Estate Investing and Money Show podcasts are also free. Free members can also create a limited number of reports using the property analysis calculators.
For the vast majority of people who are just beginning their real estate investing journey, the BiggerPockets free membership will suit them perfectly. As they continue to invest and generate profits from their business, it may make sense to upgrade to a Plus or Pro membership.
What Are The Benefits of Becoming A Paid Member?
BiggerPockets offers two levels of paid membership – Plus and Pro. You can pay annually or in monthly installments. When you pay for a year at a time, you’ll receive a 15% discount off of the price.
The Plus membership adds a little more functionality than the Basic (free) membership. Plus members can private message a greater number of members, create a limited number of ads in the marketplace, and track visits to their profile.
Pro members have the greatest level of benefits:
- Landlord forms for all 50 states and DC (including addendums)
- The ability to generate and save an unlimited number of property analysis reports
- Over $4,000 in discounts from real estate investing-related companies
- Unlimited file downloads
- Advanced member searches
- Access to the exclusive PRO Forums
- Webinar replay access
- Additional profile features like video and personalized forum signatures
To me, the small incremental amount for the Pro vs. the Plus membership is well worth the investment. Go to this page to compare all of the benefits of the three levels of membership.
What’s Coming Next From BiggerPockets?
BiggerPockets will continue to expand their reach and maintain their lead as the #1 source for real estate investor information on the internet. In 2019, BiggerPockets will formally launch their app so that members can access their valuable tools on the fly. Instead of waiting until they get in front of a computer, members will be able to analyze deals immediately enabling them to make buying decisions that much quicker.
More books will be released in 2019 as well. As the real estate market continues to evolve, BiggerPockets will publish more books to address the needs of real estate investors. One of the books they’re most excited about is Brandon Turner’s 90-day intention journal. This journal is a valuable resource as you kickstart the new year and grow your business.
If you’d like more information about real estate investing, visit the BiggerPockets website. You can also subscribe to the BiggerPockets Real Estate Investing podcast or the BiggerPockets Money Show to listen to their amazing guests.