18 Years Old. Where to start?

Question

Hello All,

I wanted to get everyone’s advice to an 18 year old who wants to have a successful future in real estate. Does not have to be super specific but put yourself in your shoes at 18 years old. What do you wish you knew? What would you have done differently? And what are the best beginning steps to take at that age?

Thank you,

Eli Eddy

Keith A. · Answer

sound advice someone gave me when I was too young to realize it was good advice --- be conservative in all that you do... in your spending, in your savings, and in what you vote for.  Building your financial stability early requires holding back while your friends are blowing money on useless things. Also - vote for politicians that enable you to control your own money, and don't take it to give to others after you've worked so hard for it. And finally, surround yourself with other people who practice the same.

Anthony Hosea · Answer

Hey @Eli Eddy and Welcome to the BiggerPockets community! If I were 18 years old again with all of the knowledge that I have now I would definitely start with getting a mentor. Feel free to expand a little bit on what exactly you are trying to do in real estate. Are you looking to be an investor? Real estate agent? Wholesaler? The world of real estate is pretty big but you can bet that there are tons of people around you that are doing something that you are interested in. Start looking on places like BiggerPockets, Facebook, LinkedIn for people that you think are killing it and just offer to do whatever is necessary. That's exactly how I got started. I reached out to a realtor in my area saying that I wanted to learn about real estate and he took me under his wing. I started doing assistant work like monitoring his social media sites, responding to inquiries on listings that he had and eventually, I became better at office tasks and started to learn a lot about social media marketing( which I was always interested in and have a background in). A couple of months later he told me I would be a great agent and pushed me to get my license. Now I'm a licensed realtor and we work closely together as colleagues and really great friends. You are young but that shouldn't scare you from being hungry! Network and reach out to people!

Kathy Henley · Answer

Hi Eli @Eli Eddy  Keep your credit clean and leave below your means.

Study the neighborhoods in your city. Where would you like to live?