I'm going to my first REIA meeting as a 16 yr old. ADVICE?

Question

So it's held by my local REIA group "TRIAD REIA" and it's occurring on Nov 17th. What's the best way to decide and come up with good questions? There'll be 3+ speakers and a 30 min interval before so people can meet and talk. I want to get there early but how should I approach people and tell them I'm new? Should I think of questions specific for that too?

Jon Kelly · Answer

Simply ask people what they do for a living. How did they get started? What is working well? What is something they could be doing better?

People love sharing stories and talking about themselves. This is perfect for someone like you who is trying to soak up as much information as possible.

Dan Sheeks · Answer

Hey @Jason Raynor

I would like to recommend a Bigger Pockets book to you. It's called First to a Million.

www.biggerpockets.com/teen

It is specifically for teens who are exactly where you are right now - the beginning. This book is your launching point.

I am the author and have been a high school business teacher for 20 years. Let me know if you have any questions. Always happy to talk to beginners who are young like you!

Dan

Rene G. · Answer

@Jason Raynor,

HECK YEAH MAN! Taking action and committing to REI so early is awesome!

My 2 cents... Almost just as important as asking good questions is taking notes. I use Evernote and there's a helpful feature that I love is how you can hit the record button and it automatically starts a note...and you can use templates that will populate each time...so what I would do is preload my questions in an REI Q&A template that I could reuse and hit record while you ask questions and jot down your notes.In my opinion, the most beneficial question you could ask is, "What is your investment strategy, and how/why did you choose it?" I will give you my answer: I'm a self-managing buy-and-hold long-term investor that targets B-class 3/2/2 (preferably 1-stories...no pool, no busy roads, no big trees...think limit liability, then think good for long-term tenants...near good schools/parks/jobs/etc).

I got into this because I grew up poor. My goal is to build a permanent cashflow rental business that runs itself so that I can leave an inheritance to my children's children. I look at my rentals as castles, which means location is crucial—I never think about selling.

My goal is Real Freedom and I want less complexity. The hard part is building my self-managing business to run itself. I know my kids will have their own passions and won't want to run my rental business. So I leverage the digital space to maximize efficiency. I use a basic formula I call the ABCs of self-service management (automate, balance, control). Every aspect of my rental business is based on this principle. It's a fractal concept that if you zoom into. one area, or zoom out to my overall business, everything goes back to the ABCs and it helps me stay on track to my Real Freedom goal.I believe that one day in the future if we as landlords can hold on to our rentals long enough it will be super easy to maintain possession! Here's a short snippet of my thought process and how to use systems thinking as a landlord: https://youtu.be/h4fNA87ttp0

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Act like you know nothing, even if you think you know something. Educate yourself as much as time allows so you can understand the conversations, ask better questions, weed out the pretenders from the actual investors, etc.

1. Start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free). It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits. Then you can read a more in-depth book like The Book On Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner or The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss.

2. Get your finances in order. Get rid of debt, build a budget, and save. The idea that you can build wealth without putting any money into it is a recipe for disaster and the sales pitch of gurus trying to steal your money. A wise investor will not try to get rich quick with shortcuts. If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing. Check out my personal favorite, Set For Life by Scott Trench , or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.

3. As you read these books, watch the BiggerPockets podcasts. This will clarify and reinforce what you are reading. You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.

4. Now you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them. Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books for this or you can learn by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum. There is a handy search bar in the upper right that makes it easy to find previous discussions, blogs, podcasts, and other resources. BiggerPockets also has a calculator you can use to analyze deals and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy. If you consistently analyze properties, it will be much easier to recognize a good deal when it shows up. Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice. It doesn't take long to learn how to spot a good deal.5. Study the market. You can learn to do this on your own or get a rockstar REALTOR to lead the way. I highly recommend a well-qualified REALTOR that works with investors and knows how to best help you.

6. Jump in! Far too many get stuck in the "paralysis by analysis" stage, thinking they just don't know enough to get started. The truth is, you could read 100 books and still not know enough because certain things need to be learned through trial-and-error. You don't need to know everything to get started; you just need a foundation to build on and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.

You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months. How long it takes to be financially ready is different for everyone. Once you're ready, create a goal (e.g. "I will buy at least one single-family home, duplex, triplex, or fourplex before the end of 2019") and then do it. Real estate investing is a pretty forgiving world and the average person can still make money even with some pretty big mistakes.

Scott E. · Answer

Networking at REIA's can be intimidating sometimes because there are SO many people and it's hard to decide who to approach, what to talk about, all that.

During that 30 min interval there will probably be at least a dozen booths set up with real estate agents, hard money lenders, title companies. If you can't find any random people to meet, you always can visit these booths and introduce yourself and collect some business cards.

Awesome to hear you getting started at such a young age. You've got a bright future ahead if you stay the course.

Jason Raynor · Answer

Thank You! This actually gave me a whole new perspective of these meetings and how they can be directly helpful for me.

Jason Raynor · Answer

Thank you!

Eliott Elias · Answer

Ask them if they were 16 years old what they would do to build an empire before they turned 25

Andrew Freed · Answer

@Jason Raynor - Funny, I just attended a real estate conference and there was another 16 and 17 year old there. It's amazing that you found real estate investing so young. At your age, time is absolutely your friend.

Regarding good questions, just ask people how they got started, what advice they would give to you if they were in your shoes. Try to find a few investors that you can provide value to via cold calling, social media management etc. If you can find a mentor at this conference that does what you want to be doing and bring this person value, that will amplify your growth in this industry dramatically.

Mike Klarman · Answer

16?????

My God, you my friend are wise beyond your ears.  By the time your my age you'll have 50 properties!!!

Look, my advice to you is be humble but confident, you know?  Compared to others there you will look like Benjamin Button.  Look people in the eye and shake their hand with a smile and introduce yourself and don't be afraid to ask questions.  You're there to learn right?

Think by the time your 20 people may be asking you questions.  You'll be the Doogie Howser of real estate!

I'm going to my first REIA meeting as a 16 yr old. ADVICE?

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