The guy who helped build the first BPCon shares the biggest mistake investors make

Dave Meyer is head of real estate investing at BiggerPockets and a BPCon rock star, but he didn’t start out that way. “I started investing in 2010 during the foreclosure crisis, and people thought I was crazy,” he said. That first purchase (a fourplex in Denver) was so successful, it launched his career. “Not because I’m a genius,” he insists. “It worked because I had a playbook that was appropriate for the market at that time.” Now, 15 years later, Meyer has formulated a whole new cheat sheet. Check out his advice along with some insider BPCon secrets below.

Q: How did BPCon begin, and what do you love most about it? “I helped plan the first BPCon in 2019. It sold out almost immediately with over 1,000 attendees in Nashville, TN. My favorite part every year is seeing the diversity of backgrounds and experience levels in our community. You meet people from all over the world—Dubai, Portugal, Armenia—and from every stage of investing, from their first deal to their thousandth, all working together, helping each other. No one sees investing as a zero-sum game where one person’s win is another’s loss. Everyone believes we can all benefit by helping each other.”

Q: Any particular BPCon memories stick with you? “I met a guy who told me that 10 years ago, he was homeless. He started listening to the BiggerPockets podcast, and now he owns 19 units. Another story that stuck with me was a woman who came up to me in San Diego in 2022, crying. She told me she’d been in her mid-50s with no retirement plan and very little savings. She started listening to the BiggerPockets podcast, began investing in real estate, and now has a secure retirement. That moment was humbling, to meet people face-to-face whose lives we’ve changed. We also see a lot of younger investors—people just out of college or even high school. Many don’t want to spend their lives working for a corporation.”

Q: What are the biggest questions investors are asking? “Most people want to understand how to navigate the current housing market, which has been confusing and uncertain. But the biggest mistake I see people make is waiting on the sidelines for the perfect time. You can lose out on opportunities that way. Another mistake is having unrealistic return expectations. Investors got used to huge appreciation during the pandemic, but that’s not normal. This part of the cycle is flatter, but it’s healthy. If you understand that and buy smart, maybe 1% to 3% below market to hedge risk, you’ll be in a good position long term.”

Q: What are some new strategies you’ve heard investors using? “A really interesting one right now is buying new construction. For the first time in years, new builds are often cheaper than existing homes. More broadly, there’s a return to fundamentals. For a few years, you could just buy anything and watch it appreciate. Now it’s back to adding value and the timeless advice: Hold for the long run. There’s never been a 10-year period in US history where buy-and-hold real estate was a bad investment.”

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