Taken less seriously due to age?

[Account Closed]

Im 19 years of age and I recently graduated from High school and pursuing a career in real estate. (Currently taking classes to get my license in the state of Minnesota!) But Ive always been fascinated with rehabbing/flipping homes. I feel that since I’m so young that an investor wouldn’t take me seriously enough to lend the cash necessary for me to get a deal done. Obviously I have very little cash and no credit score. Help!!!!! What do I do…..

[Mark Brogan]

welcome @Account Closed

do exactly what you are doing 
get your license and really learn this business
start networking with other flippers in your area and offer to work for free to get experience 
do lots of reading and ask lots of questions,listen to the podcasts 
good luck

[Account Closed]

@Mark Brogan  Thank you for your helpful input. I really appreciate your response!  

[David Nakkila]

Best thing to do is to offer up your time for free to also gain some knowledge of others and show that your motivated to learn/work for the things you are pursuing. The money will come when you find the best deals. I am young like you. Just 23, I was gifted money by my grandparents and lent money by my parents for a deal that I closed on earlier this year. The only reason was because they had watched me pursue my dream and saw me really studying and also saving as much as possible to go and make it happen!

[Peter MacKercher]

My advice for anyone starting out without the cash/credit to start investing is to find someone doing exactly what you want to do and try to work for them. You're young so you'll be able to work hard, but learning from the bottom up will let you streamline everything you do when you're not fixing buildings up yourself since you'll know what it takes to get the jobs done. But you're right -- people won't take you as seriously as someone older at this point, and less so since you're just starting. Just take advantage of your youth by focusing it on learning the skills that will force people to take you seriously.

If you're just focused on flipping, then try to find a flipper and provide as much value to them as you can to make their mentoring worth the while for them. You might also want to work for a property management company in case you ever decide to change what part of the industry you're in.

You're on the right track, just keep reading, ask questions and get out there and learn from your mistakes as well as your successes.

[Jeff McCaskey]

@Account Closed

I think you had 2 parts to your post. 1) how can I be taken seriously? 2) what do I do in this process?

Justin it's really great you're going after you RE license! Listen, even if you could fake it and be taken seriously somehow, it would always be undone very quickly in this business. Just do the opposite. Go get educated and trained up and become somewhat of a knowledgeable/expert person on some areas and familiar with oh so many. If you can at least have an intelligent conversation with almost everyone you meet and prove you know what you're talking about you will basically force people to take you seriously because you sir can back it up!!

As for next steps, you can choose nearly any direction to go. You'll have to determine that as you go early on as you begin to choose a strategy to follow.

[Tyrone Green]

@Account Closed,

I really cannot add much more than what has already been touched on in this thread.

Become educated and be the young go to guy that people will respect. If you know your stuff folks will recognize that you are indeed a force to be reckoned with...regardless of your age.

Much success!

[Alexander Felice]

You will be taken just as seriously as anyone with no credit, no cash, and no experience will be. 

Most people won't care what your age is as long as you can close. 

[Tyler E.]

I don't want to speak for everyone, but especially for me talking and networking with people is a huge part of being taken seriously. It takes time to build a relationship and for people to help you. It's hard to be taken seriously just walking into a bank or whereever and saying I'd like to do blank. Just my two cents. 

[Chris Stewart]

Great start! I WISH I would have started that young. In all likelihood people will not take you as seriously as they should, but keep with it and you will find a way. You may have to get creative on the financing, but if you find great deals the money will come from those smart enough to realize how good you're doing. Best of luck to you!

Chris

[Matthew Paul]

Grow a beard and mustache ,  Keep it trimmed neat and dress very well . This will make you look a bit older . Act serious and people will treat you the same .

[Joel W.]

Good on you getting started and it sounds as though you are doing it wisely. You are not seasoned in the way of life, but you can accomplish a ton in a very short while and gain a lot of experience. What I would recommend is Learn, Learn and Learn! Build your credit, get a job, save, and if you can do all of that while working in the Real Estate industry Great! Great things take time, and hard work.
Find that one thing you can bring to the table whether it is experience, money, or just bringing the right two people together to make a deal.