How to find a real estate coach

Question

Hi. Does anyone know of a freelance-based real estate coach that I can utilize on an hourly basis? I'm looking for help with analyzing properties for long-term rentals. All of my searches keep bringing up real estate programs that you have to pay $100s/month for to get any kind of coaching. That's overkill for my needs. I'm not a real estate agent and not looking for marketing type help.

Thanks,
Brett

Thanks,Brett

Marcus Auerbach · Answer

REI is not rocket science. You don't need a coach. And I'd argue you don't want one. If you feel like it's a knowledge issue, then read REI books. And if you feel you need someone to hold your hand then you are not ready mentally.

If you look at listings every day for an hour, you are a local expert within a month. It is really a mental journey; before you can be a real estate investor in the real world, you have to become one in your head.

$100/mo is going to buy you a dude in a call center reading script. At best. Here on BP you have plenty of people with 7 and 8 figure net worth, who will spend an hour answering your questions for free  - just because they love it and want to see you succeed!

Min Zhang · Answer

Hey Brett, I highly recommend checking out local real estate networking events. That’s actually how I found my mentor and got involved in my first flip. It’s also a great way to connect with other investors and learn what’s working for them. Best of luck! I’m excited to see your growth on this investing journey!

Brett Romero · Answer

What you just said. I always get at least a 2nd pair of eyes to check my work. The bigger/more important the potential decision, the more eyes I get. I don't claim to know it all and appreciate the other views/angles those additional eyes bring.

Nicholas L. · Answer

@Brett Romero

if you post your analysis in the forums you'll get lots of responses.

are you looking at properties in person though?  you need to be doing that too

Ken M. · Answer

Why isn't analyzing "I'm looking for help with analyzing properties for long-term rentals"worth hundreds on dollars a month? My advice is "if you can't afford good advice for real estate, do something safe instead, like sell koolaid on the corner"

Marcus Auerbach · Answer

They evolve rapidly. Try the paid version of GPT4 is orders of magnitude better than the previous version a few months ago. o3 has advanced reasoning, it basically prompts itself to do more research, you can watch it go through the thought process and research the internet live - a complex question may take a minute or 2, but the results are impressive.

But you have to know how to write good prompts: the answer is only as intelligent as the question. If you just give it a generic prompt like "tell me about how to purchase a property" you get a generic answer. Follow the RICE or RICE-FACT framework when you write a prompt, you'll get much better answers.

I was the last guy who did not want to give up his blackberry, because it had buttons and the windows phones out IT group picked for us were not that good at the time. Compare that to my Galaxy today.

What you are looking at now is the worst AI will ever be.

Ken M. · Answer

I started when late night TV had infomercials. I went to a couple of the free two hour group "seminars" that inspired but provided no content. It wasn't until I made an offer on a property in foreclosure that everything started to gel. It would have gone a lot more smoothly if I had some basics first like "what is a warranty deed" and the difference between a WD and a Quit claim deed and deed of trust. The difference between ownership and being on the loan, and so on.And Learning the timeline for foreclosure and various consequences, The legal rights of the lender vs the legal rights of the borrower. Things like that. Sure, I could have read enough books and eventually been at it long enough to answer those questions, if I knew where to look. But the $90,000 I made (30 years ago, so a fair amount of money) by jumping in made sense to me to sink or swim. It was by brute force and lots of mistakes  though (some legal). And I've repeated the process over and over during the years clearing up the mistakes. Years later I paid for some actual training at a high level of investing, made a lot more money on things I'd never known. They aren't really taught in books and I learned asset protection and preservation and some cool tax techniques.Is that appropriate for everybody? I'm beginning to agree with you, probably not.By the way, I recently tried using ChatGPT on an issue regarding a property purchase and the information would have caused more legal problems than the guy already had. But only experience would know that. What AI might be able to do is raise the issues you need further help on from a banker or attorney to consult, but be aware the AI solutions can be way off. I don't think ChatGPT knows about unintended consequences.

Brett Romero · Answer

I wonder how you cope with all of the hallucinations? When you catch it, it is always, "You are absolutely right. My analysis was incorrect. Let me try that again". And this happens constantly.

Chris Seveney · Answer

Take a collegiate level course on real estate or go on youtube -there are thousands of videos on how to analyze a property.

The reality is you can only do so much online. Think of buying real estate about getting married. you can find someone online, ubt would you marry them without meeting them? Would you make that type of commitment that could go well or could go horribly wrong and create mass chaos in your life ?

Marcus Auerbach · Answer

The biggest value that a coach can bring is to answer questions when the rubber meets the road, when it's actually time to sign on the line. But the student needs to have enough context to be able to ask good questions in the first place.

You can put me next to the world's best neurosurgeon and give me 2 hours a week to ask him anything, I would not even know what to ask. Extreme example, but just to illustrate the point.

So yes, not everyone is a book learner, but college still uses books for the most part. At least you can listen to audio books now in the car if you are not a reader. There is not really hands-on learning about landlord-tenant law, it is not very haptic.

It will be interesting to see how the coaching industry is going to change with AI. I started with courses on CDs (at least it was not tapes) and a few books. Now I am having hour long conversations with ChatGPT when I am driving and it is mind blowing how much better it has gotten in just a few months. You could basically build a whole REI course that is AI supported, you just lay out the main chapters and the use a LLM to deliver interactive lectures, it could even be State or market specific.. I have to think about that!

How to find a real estate coach

Most Popular Reply