I was wondering what it would take for me to move out from my parents place at 18, and the requirements for me to meet to do so. How much money I should have saved up, how I can qualify for a job, and if I can get a mortgage for a home. College at this point is not a good idea for me, because I have no interest in pursuing a career in medicine, law, or engineering. I would like to work in sales, property management, or loan officer until I am FI. Coming from an asian background I would end up taking on debt and losing 4 years in college because of societal norms, many influencers have repeatedly claimed college is not the move right now.
Real Estate Agent · Boise, ID · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 888 votes
3y
@Vashist D. I was following you until that last statement. For the love of god don't make major life decisions off influencers. You won't qualify for a mortgage until you have some time in a job. Start working on your career now you don't need degrees for what you stated. As far as moving out that is purely personal. I wanted to, but had money and work lined up. If you don't have work lined up how will you cover your cost. Do some real research and get first hand experience not he said she said videos.
Real Estate Agent · Boise, ID · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 888 votes
3y
@Vashist D. I was following you until that last statement. For the love of god don't make major life decisions off influencers. You won't qualify for a mortgage until you have some time in a job. Start working on your career now you don't need degrees for what you stated. As far as moving out that is purely personal. I wanted to, but had money and work lined up. If you don't have work lined up how will you cover your cost. Do some real research and get first hand experience not he said she said videos.
You typically need two years of work history before lenders will give you a loan, but there are other options for financing. You do need a basic understanding of real estate investing and financial discipline. Set For Life is an excellent book to start with.
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.
officer until I am FI. Coming from an asian background I would end up taking on debt and losing 4 years in college because of societal norms, many influencers have repeatedly claimed college is not the move right now.
my contrarian comment is since you are from asian background then you should follow the normal advice from asian parents that has been there has done that, which is taking 4 years college :) lol
when i was 18 i was thinking the same way of thinking also but i know i like computer and science engineering because that's an easy job for me, easy to learn and the return of money is fantastic. real estate investment would just follow.
kid those days get the idea of abandoning college, that would be the biggest mistake ever except if you really good at inventing something, don't do that.
that's my asian aspiration, if I'm non asian I would say do whatever you wanna do who cares lol
I was wondering what it would take for me to move out from my parents place at 18, and the requirements for me to meet to do so. How much money I should have saved up, how I can qualify for a job, and if I can get a mortgage for a home. College at this point is not a good idea for me, because I have no interest in pursuing a career in medicine, law, or engineering. I would like to work in sales, property management, or loan officer until I am FI. Coming from an asian background I would end up taking on debt and losing 4 years in college because of societal norms, many influencers have repeatedly claimed college is not the move right now.
100% on your own at 18 (with no parental help) the chance of failure is very high.
A good bet is to square away your needs, (3 hots and a cot + Zero down home loans, and free medical for life, while working your way up at an organization where young men are successful every day).
Go down and join the United States Marine Corp, and stay as long as they will have you.
Free food, free lodging, ability to move up in pay.
Rental Property Investor · Tacoma, WA · Member since 2023 · 14 posts · 14 votes
3y
The advice so far has been solid and I will echo Scott’s post. Joining the military can have some great advantages. The pay is pretty good when you consider the benefits provided to you at no cost. I’m currently serving in the Air Force. If you want more information about serving, let me know. There’s also a great YouTube channel called “From Military to Millionaire” if you want to pursue that route. It is put on by David Pere, who is an active BP member.
I would also start working on your credit now. You won’t be able to qualify for a loan without good credit. There are plenty of resources out there about how to work on and improve your credit. At 18, I would get a CC and use is sparingly. In short, keep your utilization low (below 10%) and pay it off in full every month. Go to a local credit union to get a card with a decent rate.
Real Estate Agent · Raleigh NC & Triangle Area · Member since 2022 · 20 posts · 13 votes
3y
It sounds like you are a go getter which real estate is perfect for that, but it can be a very awkward transition if you don't just dive in. Any way you can explore different avenues of real estate without spending money would be a great idea.
If you know you want to move and invest in a home, you should be saving all the money you can...
Sounds like the field of work is the only barrier that you need to explore so you can make plans/goals going forward.
I definitely believe you should talk with 2 different receptive people in each field to get a better perspective and understanding of the work you will be doing and if you will enjoy it. Going off of that, you should definitely attend networking & Real estate events in your area and ask questions. People love individuals who have an interest in their work so don't hold back.
Other than that, I would love to connect and jump on a call if you'd like to talk about agent side of real estate. My roommate @Nate Benton is a lender and I'm sure he would be more than happy to talk with you as well!
It sounds like you are a go getter which real estate is perfect for that, but it can be a very awkward transition if you don't just dive in. Any way you can explore different avenues of real estate without spending money would be a great idea.
If you know you want to move and invest in a home, you should be saving all the money you can...
Sounds like the field of work is the only barrier that you need to explore so you can make plans/goals going forward.
I definitely believe you should talk with 2 different receptive people in each field to get a better perspective and understanding of the work you will be doing and if you will enjoy it. Going off of that, you should definitely attend networking & Real estate events in your area and ask questions. People love individuals who have an interest in their work so don't hold back.
Other than that, I would love to connect and jump on a call if you'd like to talk about agent side of real estate. My roommate @Nate Benton is a lender and I'm sure he would be more than happy to talk with you as well!
Thanks for the plug -
Vashist - First of all congrats on making the bold decision to deviate from the norm and skip college. I'll try to chime in on a couple things you mentioned in your post.
- Mortgage - Generally lenders are going to want to see 2 years of mortgage history and some sort of credit profile. If you worked in high school for a non-trivial amount of hours you can get that to fly as prior work experience depending on the bank you go to for approval. In addition to that, generally for any commission or bonus income you would need a full 2 years in the specific job/industry before you are able to use ANY of that bonus or commission income (There are ways around this if you look at non-conforming options, primarily bank statement loans, but those are going to be higher down payment, higher rate and require a large amount of capital to execute). So if a mortgage is your primary goal, look for something initially with a higher base salary or higher hourly rate as those are usually the only items you can qualify with limited industry experience (work history and credit still needed). The credit thing can be solved if you have a family member that has decent credit and wants to throw you on as an authorized user on a couple credit cards. Strongly recommend opening 2 credit cards (Discover It is a decent starter card, obv do your own research**) in your own name, like yesterday...
- Job - I think its super important before you throw yourself in a sales position with no income and low reserves that you really understand the ins and outs of what you need to do in that position. Property management you can probably jump straight into with an established company. Becoming a Real Estate agent you can also do with limited experience, just be aware that it could be 6m till you make a sale so have reserves for that going in. The lending avenue is a little different, I recommend starting as an assistant or a Junior with an established loan officer before jumping in solo on your own. The depth of knowledge you need to be competitive as a loan officer is actually quite extensive, although its definitely worth learning.
Whichever direction you want to go you can make work, just be prepared to make the leap and have reserves ready appropriate to the field you go into.
