Young REI in Need of Wisdom

[Dakota Rholetter]

Hello Bigger Pockets Family,

Firstly, I would like to say that this site is absolutely amazing when it comes to generating great forums, information, calculators and anything that comes with investing in real estate.

With that out of the way, I will begin, my name is Dakota, and I am currently 19 years old and I live in Western North Carolina. I have a good chunk of capital saved and put away for my investing career. I am currently enrolled in college, taking some basic business classes in marketing and finance.

I took a liking into real estate investing at the start of this year (2021). I was just fooling around with the idea when I stumbled onto this, The Bigger Pockets Website, where I was led to start listening to the Bigger Pockets Podcasts on Spotify. From there I learned of hundreds of books to pick up on the subject of REI, the first of which I read was the honorable Robert Kiyosaki book of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." I took such a great liking in his book that I had to read more and more, the more I read, the more I came to love real estate.

 I read "Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert Kiyosaki and "How to Invest in Real Estate" by Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin. From these books I learned that my personal preference for investing would be in multifamily (or single family) rentals. I loved the idea of the home paying for itself (with the right number crunching) and being able to manage multiple of them with a steady flow of cash coming in each month (which is something Kiyosaki screamed that everyone should have and commit to having). 

Right now, I am currently working a few hours a week as an "intern" at Keller Williams as a "Marketing Specialist." Which is essentially just listing homes that are for sale on a realtor's webpage, I help with closings and organization of files, postcards that go out to the community and miscellaneous things such as that. I took this internship to learn about the selling side of properties to open my mind up and understand every aspect before getting my feet wet. 

I have a current goal to have my first rental property running before my 21st birthday which is in April of 2023. 

My question to you veteran pros out there is, what is your advice? Your advice for a young pup, such as myself, fresh out of the gate with minor capital and little experience? I appreciate all advice, and constructive criticism is always welcome!

Best,

-Your Friend, 

-Dakota :)

[Bryan Balducki]

@Dakota Rholetter awesome on you for getting into the RE industry and having a plan in place! I would start talking to lenders and see what you could get pre approved for with the capital you have or get a co-signer to help with the purchase of your first property. A great place to start is house hacking. Buy your property with a 3-5% down loan and rent out the other rooms to help cover your mortgage or even cash flow. Do this again a year later, rinse, wash, repeat. Use this experience to get into more deals and build a track record. Talk to as many investors as you can and continue to educate yourself. Listen to podcasts and go to meetups, surround yourself with those who are doing it. Your off to a great start…keep it up!