Real Estate Job or Career?

[Alexander Reed]

Hey guys,

I just finished the Chad Doty BP podcast and it really got me thinking about choosing a job to bring in more income/build up my knowledge of real estate. 

I am 24 without a degree and have spent the past year reading books on REI/business while working average jobs, but I can't help but think if I had a job more closley alligned to where I want to go, I could have learned more.

My question is: How necessary would you guys say it is to work my day job in the real estate field while working towards being an investor?

[Russell Gronsky]

@Alexander Reed, people here are right. You don't need to be in the RE business to become a great investor. However, you are also right that it will greatly help. In RE, just like any other business, you need to know how to leverage money to your advantage and how to put together deals. So, keeping that in mind, if I had to do it all over again, I'd work for a mortgage broker or for a title company. 

You won't learn everything there is to know about financing deals from working for a mortgage broker, but you'll be head and shoulders above most other people. Working at a title company, you'll probably learn (and if you don't learn through the job, ask the Real Estate attorney on staff to teach you) how to structure deals and put together contracts to buy off-market properties. Again, you won't learn everything but you'll know a ton.

In either of these jobs, you'll also interact and have a chance to learn who the rock star agents are in your area and a ton of other useful skills/knowledge that will set you up for success, no matter what kind of RE investing you choose to do.